Architects4Education – research into the design of schools

SCHOOL RESEARCH 

Architects4education have always been keen that their accumulated knowledge on the design of education premises should be shared with clients and other designers to improve the quality of the school estate.

One of our principles, Dr Chris French, has carried out several research projects into various aspects of school design over the last 15 years and many of the lessons learned are very relevant to the present climate of school capital funding and procurement.

A summary of these lessons was presented to the April 2011 meeting of the RIBA Schools Client Forum:

This presentation summarises a collection of research undertaken by Dr French over a number of years.

The complete research papers are available by clicking on the following links:

ESSEX COUNTY COUNCIL PRIMARY SCHOOLS (1973-1993) A DESIGN APPRAISAL - Volume 1 -

An appraisal of various design aspects of new and extended primary schools in Essex built between 1973 and 1993.
The investigation method included a review of primary school design literature and County Council archives, interviews with Officers concerned with the design and operation of primary schools, visits to schools, analysis of user comment by questionnaire, and investigative essays.
The appraisal contains three parts:- part one – a review of primary education since 1973; part two – strategic aspects of primary school design, including, planning, constructional systems, aesthetics, environmental design, engineering services, interior and exterior design;

ESSEX COUNTY COUNCIL PRIMARY SCHOOLS (1973-1993) A DESIGN APPRAISAL - Volume 2

Volume 2 contains the third part of the design appraisal – detailed requirements of today’s primary school room by room; plus conclusions promulgating lessons for the future.

Prefabrication in Schools -

Executive summary of a review of recent small scale prefabrication projects at Eastern Region schools.

RIBA Education forum – recessionary trends -

A short PowerPoint presentation summarising the above research.

For more on Architects4Education please see http://architects4education.co.uk/

To read more about Dr Chris French, please click here.

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Deanes Nursery On site!

Another of our projects currently on site is the Deanes Nursery:

The construction of this new nursery is progressing well, with the slab finished and the brickwork commenced. It is due to be completed  end of August 2011.

The new building will provide modern nursery facilities for 43 children, replacing the aging nursery in the existing school .

The project provides a variety of stimulating spaces for the children. Large windows open out to the courtyard, providing high levels of natural light and ”box windows” create cosy places to play in.

The exterior will be finished in carefully balanced untreated timber and cladding panels in shades of green with red highlights.

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John Lyall on the future of building schools

John Lyall was interviewed by Local Government News at BSEC,  and discussed the future of building schools in the UK:

John Lyall:

“Its a myth that good design costs too much money – it doesnt.”

“BSF was overweighed with bureaucracy – thats where the money has gone – Mr Gove – not on Architects Fees! “

“Its not all bad news. People are talking about prefabricated schools – handled right thats not a bad thing, and certainly starting to work for some primary schools… Whether that will work for more complex schools such as secondary schools i don’t know… the architects, contractors, and teachers and school heads will increasingly demand better design. “

“CABE 10 point design criteria has also helped improve design quality…”

“BSF brought architects and contractors together, and we mustn’t lose that…”

“architects must do more research with contractors – what makes good design and what makes good value – not just cutting costs by cutting area…  and we don’t want to go back to the mistakes of the past…”

Click here to see more Local Government News videos from BSEC

 

John Lyall Architects are a founding practice in the consortium Architects4Education – consisting of three award winning practices who have come together to work collaboratively in the field of education design.

Click here to find out more about Architects4Education.

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Early Learning – an article in Building Magazine

“Inspite of the doom and gloom about the new government’s schools programme, I am optimistic that we can still achieve great new schools, and brilliantly transformed existing schools.”

John Lyall writing in this weeks Building magazine – a timely piece: at BSEC many people were talking about design quality, flat pack schools, and the role of architects in the future of school design…

Click here to open the article as a pdf

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Architects4Education at Building Schools Exhibition and Conference 2011

Architects4Education will be exhibiting at the forthcoming BSEC 2011 – the Building Schools Exhibition and Conference – at London’s Excel Centre, 23-24th February 2011.

Arguably the UKs premier education construction event, BSEC is a great platform for discussing the future of school buildings – whether new build, renovation or extension. The exhibition is free to attend – see http://www.buildingschools.co.uk/ for more details.

Pop along to see us at stand 618 and one of our specialist architects will be happy to discuss our unique and collaborative approach to school design!

Head to http://architects4education.co.uk/ to read more about how we work and to see more of our projects.

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Peer Review – Architects4Education

Last week the three practices of Architects4Education came together for one of our regular peer review sessions, to discuss our recently completed projects, and to talk about what we have currently on the drawing board. This unique collaborative approach allows us to share our experiences of best practice, and to review our designs to take on a ‘second opinion’ – ensuring that our clients get the best possible quality design.

In the following (3 minute) video John Lyall introduces a few video clips from the evening:

We are passionate about schools achieving the best possible quality in school design, and an evening like this allows us to discuss in depth the lessons that we have learned in our wide experience of schools work to date. Architects rarely get this opportunity – the closest one often gets is reading about a new school in the architectural press, or of course visiting a completed school. Both of these methods miss so many of the rich lessons a design team learns during the design process – the decisions made; the views of the teachers, school head and local community; the options not progressed - and the reasons why – and many more.

This video gives just a flavour of the projects discussed – we also talked about several more confidential projects – including a new primary school for Barking in East London, and our work as Client Design Advisor for Northamptonshire Academies – which could not be included online – but which also helped to further our collective knowledge.

The evening was also a great opportunity to get together and share a glass of wine!

——————-      more information:     ————————

• Click here to go to the  Architects4Education web site.
• Click here to open our education brochure (pdf).

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Design fit for Education

“These are exciting times for independent schools and improved facilities are the perfect way to attract new pupils and parents”

An A4E advertorial piece in the Autumn/Winter 2010 edition of Schoolhouse Magazine:

Click here to view this article as a pdf.

See http:// http://www.architects4education.co.uk/ for more details about how we work, or click here to see the latest A4E brochure.

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Remodelling Education Conference, Manchester

Architects4Education will be exhibiting at next weeks Remodelling Education Conference in Manchester, on 13th and 14th September.

Come along to stand number 9 to see what we do!

The conference is a dedicated platform for discussing reuse and refurbishment in existing education spaces. Given the current economic climate the conference is perfectly timed, and we look forward to engaging in the debate! Architects4Education have a wide range of experience in refurbishing schools, as well as building new.

Northbury School is a good example of adding to an existing school, which in July this year was “Highly Commended” by the British Council for School Environments in the category of Best School Extension, Refurbishment or Remodel. Click here to go to the A4E website for more information.

Northbury School designed by Greenhill Jenner

For more details on the conference and exhibition – including free seminar content – see http://www.remodellingeducation.com/

To view the new Architects4Education brochure see our earlier blog post.

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Architects4Education new brochure

Architects4Education (an education-specific consortium of award winning architects) is pleased to announce our new brochure:

Click here to open the brochure as a PDF

Architects4Education comprises of John Lyall Architects, Greenhill Jenner, Sarah Wigglesworth Architects and Dr Chris French. Projects are designed in collaboration and with peer review, meaning that design quality is kept consistently high. Top level management maintain a close involvement through all stages of the project, and together we offer the resources of a larger company, but with the flexibility and approachability of a smaller practice.

For more information on what we do and our projects please see the consortium website: www.architects4education.co.uk

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Refurbishment in Education Conference

John Lyall Architects attended a thought provoking conference last week which looked at all aspects of refurbishment in education buildings – from heritage issues to sustainability, FF&E and ‘Free Schools’.

Elm Park School, Lambeth

The conference took place at Elm Park School in South London – itself extensively refurbished under wave 1 of the BSF programme by the conference organisers – Apollo Education.

Sir David Bell, chairman of the Transformation Trust opened the conference : “Giving kids confidence that they can achieve is crucial, and good education environments really help this “

Malcolm Woods from English Heritage then talked about working with historic buildings: ”in refurbishment sensitivity to historic buildings important, but quality of education is the priority“

“Ideally listed buildings should be always have the same use that they were originally built for”

Malcolm Woods from English Heritage

“The UK has only 5000 listed buildings – which is not many – so they need care; understanding the building is critical” There are also clearly many buildings which are not listed but which are really important to preserve.

Marcel Hendricks, Apollo Education: “transformation now a dirty word, but important- don’t just refurbish a poor performing space with a lick of paint“

David Hurrocks – senior contracts manager at Apollo – talked about the practicality of building/refurbishment/phasing while school open

David Hurrocks - Apollo Education

There was then a really energetic talk by Marcus Orlovsky, of consultants Bryanston Square… he began by showing a photograph of a pretty uninspiring teaching space “if that is your idea of refurb, go boil your own head!” and then going on to say:

“ too often the goal of ‘improving what’s there’ prevents the creation of truly special learning environments “

He asked are we sleepwalking in our current provision for schools? With various statistics he showed how the world is changing radically, and questioned whether the careers that many UK pupils are heading towards may not actually exist in the UK in 25 years…

He talked about how schools should tackle Furniture, Fixtures, and Equipment early: “FF&E  doesn’t have to be costly if it is tackled with imagination” – running through ways you can engage pupils without spending loads of money on construction work  - FF&E can be bespoke & innovative…

Aaron Taylor talked us through Apollo Education’s field trip to Scandinavia, and showed several slides showing the progressive design of the Danish and Swedish schools. This was particularly interesting given the current move towards ‘free schools’ and the possibility of converting existing non-school buildings for use as schools. Examples included the new Orestad-Gymnasium school in Copenhagen.

There was a talk on sustainability in schools from Martin Cook of the BRE, and Steve Wisby of mechanical engineers Hoare Lee, followed by a discussion of community involvement and social responsibility.

The day ended with a tour of the school – itself an award winning example of school refurbishment – with construction work by Apollo Education. A PDF case study of the building can be found here.

This was a great conference, and it was particularly interesting to discuss some of the issues which we face in our school design work; there were many parallels with Northbury School which was designed as part of our schools-specific consortium Architects4Education

Northbury School, designed by Architects4Education

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