We designed, manufactured and installed an intelligently-designed classroom block.
The timber building we created conforms to the principles of ‘biophilic’ design, with six classrooms each furnished with natural surfaces. The building features fully-retractable, bi-folding doors, allowing it to open up, bringing the outdoors in. Research shows that ‘green’ spaces like this convey physiological benefits to users.
Marymount’s state-of-the-art facility is also fitted with smart lighting and air source heat pumps, two electricity-conserving features. Lighting dims according to the amount of natural sunlight in the building, with a fresh, natural learning environment facilitated by strategically-placed windows. The pumps work by drawing heat from outside air to power the radiators.
The building’s carefully-considered design also extends to its adaptable layout, which fosters creative thinking and discussion. The individual classroom spaces in the timber facility are designed with dimensions such that students are able to face each other, facilitating peer-to-peer learning. Whether for lectures, exams, teamwork or group discussion, the timber-framed classroom’s six internal rooms are easily adapted.
As well as the interior, every aspect of the exterior is architecturally designed. The facility is clad in Western Red Cedar and heavy-duty Thermowood weatherboard, specially designed to fit sympathetically into the leafy, woodland surroundings. The facility also features a pitched roof and fully-accessible decked area.
Marymount International School, Surrey.
Six-classroom facility.
