BETA We use cookies to improve your experience. By using architecture.com you agree to our terms of use and use of cookies. This is a new RIBA online service. We would like to hear your feedback .

Find an architect

Featherstone High School Sixth Form Building

Ealing

Project Details

£5m to £9.99M

New Build

Practice

DSP Architecture

104c St John Street , Clerkenwell , London , EC1M 4EH , United Kingdom

'It is without doubt a DSP building. Light floods through every space. The design is compact and neat.' - to quote the retiring Head Teacher who succeeded in realising the School's clear vision to 'provide a well-resourced environment for all young people in the area', with full funding under the Learning Skills Council's 16-19 Capital Projects programme. The School's requirement was for an energy efficient and fully IT equipped facility, which would not only attract students to opt for higher education in a bright and socially benign environment but would raise the profile of the school in the local community. Orthogonal classrooms are grouped in compact wings flanking a triple height social space, with circulation galleries above, covered and naturally lit by a ETFE air cushion roof. This 'Forum' is naturally ventilated by stack effect with ground-tempered air introduced from earth ducts beneath the semi basement car park and automatically opening clerestory windows at the top of the atrium to draw the air up and out on warm days. The classrooms provide bright and versatile learning spaces, with thermally efficient translucent cellular outer walls incorporating nano-gel insulation - a grown-up environment appropriate to young-adult students. Natural ventilation via acoustic louvres within the facade is controlled and monitored automatically by a Building Management System to maintain comfortable conditions. Exposed concrete soffits, giving thermal mass to stabilise temperatures, are acoustically damped and brightened by floating white sound-absorbent ceilings. The Pod at the focal point of the Forum Space, is an IT and refreshment resource; the ovoid shape provides a striking visual counterpoint to the restraint of the classroom wings and hosts additional flexible-use, open-access computer suites with informal but intense ambience, in contrast to the neutral day-lit calm of the surrounding classrooms. The timber structure?s irregular shape and projecting fins act as 'baffles' to effectively absorb and scatter sound in what would otherwise be a reverberant circulation zone. In the concourse between the new Sixth Form building and the existing school reception, stone steps and ramps mediate between the levels of the old and new buildings - ensuring full accessibility to all - and beneath this landscape feature, eighteen one hundred metre deep boreholes deliver sustainable heating and cooling to the new structure via ground source heat pumps. Current Head Teacher Gerry Wadwa added 'DSP's most recent project has been the design of our state of the art sixth form building. The school had a clear vision for this building which needed to be very innovative in design and to support our strong reputation for the use of New Technology. We also wanted an eco-friendly building which was energy efficient. Throughout the project DSP were very good at communicating their design solution through a variety of stakeholder presentations and consultations. We were very impressed with their futuristic solution which was very much in keeping with the school vision and has raised the profile of the school in the local community. The building has been recognised by the LA as an exemplar for other schools to visit. During recent BSF visits across the country, Ealing Heads who have visited our building have remarked that it is ahead of what they have seen elsewhere.'