Description

The most compact solution was required here partly because of the limited site area, but in particular to keep the costs down, both build costs and running costs. Therefore the architects chose to stack the building on six storeys with classrooms around the outside, all served by a central void, with lifts, staircases and generous balcony/gallery areas at each level. As the most common form of school building is a single-storey volume spread across a green field setting, this is very unusual. Here is a more sustainable form with minimal external wall surface area to provide much lower running costs. However, the form provides a more immediate benefit in terms of common circulation areas, which are concentrated around the central ‘core’. The most obvious benefit are the generous staircase areas, which act as spaces where students can meet and chat whilst changing lessons. There is a real sense of theatre about this movement corridor, with little bullying possible since everyone is in view all the time.

This school for intermediate vocational education naturally contains a considerable area devoted to practical instruction rooms and workshops along with the more conventional classrooms for teaching academic subjects. It seemed obvious that these vocational spaces, which needed to be larger and host activities such as applied car mechanics, should be at ground floor. In effect, the brief has forced the architects to dedicate two levels, a so-called ‘base’ level and the raised ground floor level, to vocational training spaces. The ground floor level doubles as the main entrance area which is accessed via a grand staircase that uses above the base level and leads all students into a large entrance hall, or the so-called ‘central square’. Here everything and everyone comes together. There is a café and entrance (with rooftop terrace) and a music room/stage for performances to the entire school and community beyond. There is no separate assembly hall or auditorium; instead the void defines the central space, which has large stepped seating areas forming a distinctive internal landscape, a trademark feature of this architect. The staircase leading up to the intermediate floors are approximately 17 metres wide, and quite clearly they are much more than stairs. The second floor contains staff rooms, multi-media spaces including a conventional library, art and crafts areas and the central reception point. Each of the upper floors has a working space around the void before you get to the classrooms. Comprising an area approximately 7.5 x 25 metres (190 square metres), it is a secondary area for activities outside the classroom.

The architectural dexterity of the form is particularly evident in the central circulation void. It is no simple vertical hole; rather it appears to twist as each layer of accommodation adopts its specific layout. The open stairways are located in different positions as they lead up through each floor. Circulation becomes a real promenade, with constantly changing views as one ascends each level. At the top is an enormous roof light, which allows daylight to penetrate right down to the ground floor level.

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Originally published in: Mark Dudek, Schools and Kindergartens: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2015.