Guidance
Baseline designs: 1,200 place secondary (music and sports)
Finger-block baseline designs for a 1,200 place 11 to 16 secondary school with a music and sports specialism.
Documents
Details
The design shown is a 3 storey building for 1,200 pupils aged 11 to 16. The school is assumed to be following a curriculum which concentrates on music and sport. The school is devised as a ‘kit of parts’ based on the suites of spaces in the Schedule of Accommodation (SoA).
Such an approach allows:
- parts to be combined in various ways to suit the particular needs of a site, including where some buildings are being retained
- easier phased construction
- teaching wings to be positioned to optimise orientation
The option shown provides external circulation between blocks.
Other key features of the design
Other key features of the design are that:
- the dining space provides a central focus to the school and can be used as a milling space during the school day and, in conjunction with the hall and drama space, for after school events
- uninterrupted runs of 7.8 metre room depth allow both general and practical teaching spaces to be accommodated and facilitate future change
- voids in the centre of the teaching wings bring daylight into the corridor and the backs of classrooms (they also act as ventilation stacks providing natural ventilation, particularly in the summertime)
- the simple 3 storey teaching wings provide an efficient building form that is easy to extend in future (the short and long blocks can be combined in various ways to suit a wide range of school sizes)
- practical teaching spaces are organised in suites with a sense of identity but allowing some variation in the range of spaces (each floor which can serve 1 or 2 departments includes a staff workroom and an office, teaching stores and toilets)
- the sports hall and associated areas is located in a separate building