A new foundation building with reception classrooms, a private nursery or community room and a practice space or performance area for music at this constrained north London site
The school was looking for innovative ways to expand their facilities on this constrained north London site. After extensive feasibility studies we arrived at a brief for a new foundation building with reception classrooms, a private nursery/community room and a practice space/performance area for music.
The plan was based on striking a balance between opening the school up to the local community while providing separation and comfort for the youngest children in school. Therefore we developed a strong roofline that draws the various spaces together. It comes to a peak over the community facilities of the nursery and an outward facing music room that also acts as a performance space.
The U-shaped plan of the building encloses a private play-space to the rear for the exclusive use of the reception children. On the public sides the sculptural roof form with its large overhangs provide shelter not only for pupils but for waiting parents, welcoming them into the school.
The façade treatment also needed to strike a balance between the new and traditional. The continuous, lightweight cladding emphasises the strength of the roof form, but needed to respect the surrounding building typology. We conducted a number of colour studies into the tones of the near-by rich-red brick buildings that ultimately informed the specification and appearance of the high performance coloured glass cladding.