The expansion of the existing 1FE Julians Primary School to provide a new fully accessible 3FE school on a challenging sloping urban site to new space standards (BB99 less 15%) which were later formalised in BB103.
Design Approach
The massive 12m slope on the site initially posed a major challenge to the design team, particularly in light of the accessibility aspirations, reduced space standards & budget.
However, by working collaboratively with the design team, we were able to propose a solution that maximised the site by working with the site’s natural contours & levels, allowing us to achieve the following:
- school built into the hillside, which reduced the footprint to be less than the existing school building & opened up the site to ensure space standards were met for external playspace & amenity
- good balance between cut-&-fill, reducing cost significantly
- 3 floors which utilized site levels to allow each floor to have direct access to external teaching & playspaces without relying on terraces or roof gardens
- an almost perfect north-south orientation, allowing maximum passive control of daylighting & solar control
The arrangement of the school allowed for clear access in & around the school, allowing the site to become almost entirely (DD) accessible through carefully crafted landscape & use of the central lift to provide access to each level & associated landscaped areas.
During our engagement with the planning department pre-planning, it was discovered that the school site had been declared a Site of Important Nature Conservation due to its natural habitat areas. We responded to this by making it a core concept of the school, significantly increasing the biodiversity of the site & referencing this in both the interior design & selection of materials, both externally & internally.
