Typologies: As you may expect the pavilions, especially the 3 identical ones, have a set typology for the classrooms and spaces within and in themselves they’re near enough symmetrical. It can be seen in plan that each of the classrooms are in fact identical in area and shape (ignoring factors such as door and window locations) meaning there is a tremendous amount of continuity running through the new building. By creating a sense of familiarity in the architecture it undoubtedly would reduce the risk of pupils feeling uncomfortable if they’re needed to change classrooms. In the initial discussions with the architect, the school made it abundantly clear their ambitions for the classroom spaces, “we need to avoid seeing the classroom as the only place in which children could learn, in turn providing a variety of spaces such as; lots of break out spaces, unusual spaces, internal to external spaces” (Beswick interview, line 8) this has been aided in respect to internal/external spaces by the positioning of the classrooms and the inner courtyard in each pavilion. Each classroom has its own exit straight into the external landscape and the courtyard, accessed via the shared ‘breakout area’, can be completely opened up thanks to a large set of gates on the outer wall of the building, hereby contributing to the schools success of bringing the outside in. In order to subdivide the classrooms into specific areas the school has utilised the furniture such as small shelving units that can be arranged and moved around with ease depending on the activities that take place in the school. This method is implemented far less in the junior classrooms and not at all when the children reach year 6 presumably because the educational needs don’t require them. Shared spaces were also a major asset that the school wished to address when deciding on the design for this new school building, when asked Mr Beswick stated what he believed was the most important space in the school “The crossing in the Avenue where you can see in all directions is the most important for me, it is a space that all children will use at some point and also at the beginning and ends of the day it is a place where, when the gates are open, families can travel through this space also meaning that it is a powerful space and an indicator, whereby you can stand in the centre of the crossing and see what our school is about.” (Beswick interview, line 62) It is important to understand that the new building 30
Figure 17: A Courtyard in one of the Pavilions
Figure 18: One of the large openings in the canopy Figure 19: A typical Reception classroom layout
Standardised Schools or Bespoke Design?