Fig 01. External Courtyards between classrooms and corridors.
The brick and glass modernist building sits in sea of mature trees, making the building feel like a pavilion in a garden. A moat was designed at the frontage of the building, jokingly described by Powel as to keep out school inspectors, while for the rest of the site is surrounded by perforated brick wall to match the surrounding villas. Within the playground, another playful feature appears in a form of a huge water sphere, covered in sprayed concrete and painted gold.
The spatial organisation of the school is one of the main factors which allowed the school to be such a success for over 60 years. The courtyards, not only create a great sense of connection to the nature and allow for abundance of daylight to filter into the hallways, they also they create visual links across classrooms, creating a visual guide for children as they navigate through the school. Generous amount of green space around the school and simple modular plan allowed for adaptations to occur to keep up with the fast paced world of education.
Fig 02. The school’s windows teach children basic color notions.
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PRECEDENT I SCHOOL