School Building Award

sponsored by calfordseaden
Presented to the establishment that has provided what is judged to be the most technically advanced building constructed for the purpose of a teaching present and future pupils.

2011 Winner: Evelyn Grace Academy, Brixton

Architect: Zaha Hadid

The Evelyn Grace Academy has an extraordinary architectural pedigree confirmed by winning the RIBA’s coveted Stirling Prize for the best new European building. A highly stylised zig-zag of steel and glass squeezed onto the tightest of urban sites makes a powerful statement to all in daily attendance. The internal structure is designed to support the innovative nature of the Academy’s four-school umbrella expressing independence, yet also in unity. The product of cautious investment, the school has carefully placed playgrounds and sports pitches, with a bright red 100m athletics track running from side-to-side. The interior plan elevates the senses, evoking an adult worth for all within and beyond.

Commended

Chelsea Academy, London
Architect: Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios
Chelsea Academy has achieved the very difficult feat of carefully sitting 11,000 square metres of school on to a highly constrained site exactly half that size, without compromising any fundamental architectural forms or practical requirements envisaged by the school. The school may sit cheek-by-jowl with low-rise housing and a power station, but it deftly steps between the two through a series of courtyards which allow for copious natural light to stream in while providing for external space.  The building layout, section and form, are a remarkable three-dimensional puzzle – rather like a Rubik’s cube, with each face having an independent response to its immediate environment.

Stoke Newington School & Sixth Form, London
Architect: Jestico & Whiles
Stoke Newington School architects have designed a series of insertions into what is a Brutalist concrete school, completely transforming the space. The most effective intervention is also the most engaging and thoughtful: a robust, inexpensive and low-maintenance Corten steel block set on a glazed-brick plinth which has given the school a distinguished, powerful and lasting new identity to the street. With careful reworking of existing materials and detailing, the result is not just a quick fix, rather the architects have repaired, reinterpreted and preserved a building with a challenging architectural style that might otherwise have been overwhelmed or even lost.

Knop Law Primary School, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Architect: ADP
Wildlife gardens, a log cabin classroom and a biomass boiler are all part of the architects’ translation of the Knop Law Primary School’s desire to delight and instruct its pupils. The visitor centre blends especially well into the landscape, while the roof and rainwater collection systems demonstrate its eco-credentials. The build structure enabled an efficient IT infrastructure install; in fact, every part of the school has a well-defined purpose. The atmosphere manages to combine a sense of ease and formality, partially architecturally inspired, in the conduct of school activities. The inquisitive thought in the design will surely find its way into the minds of the users.

Michael Faraday Community School, London
Architect: Alsop Sparch
Creating a range of light, fun elements within the deceptively well-structured Michael Faraday Community School lifts the atmospherics: from ‘shop front’ classrooms to quirky signage; from identifying a Living Room space that connects the perimeter classes to teaching in a Studio and Roof Garden. Its central drum shape and flexible learning space is based on the school’s determination to find engaging ways to positively connect with a mixed school. An integrated graphic language emerges and pupils are effectively immersed in a daily artistic experience. The arrangement encourages a vibrant and interactive school environment that provides a cheerful counter-point to the immediate vicinity.