Evaluation

The building is located carefully in a sensitive historic landscape. The use of the slope of the site prevents the large volume of the auditorium from dominating the smaller rooms to the perimeter. Its steeply pitched roof is an unusual form, reminiscent of oast houses and other vernacular buildings. Combined with the natural materials of the exterior it sits well in this location.

The openness around the building does however mean that security and managing potentially unwanted access from the public road below has become a consideration. Internally the building is bright and airy and is well used. It is easy to understand what is going on in the building when walking around, and it does not feel like an institutional teaching or administration block, an appropriate resource in this boarding school situation.

For a specialised building the brief was achieved with a relatively tight budget. The arrangement of accommodation and development of the acoustic strategy have been developed carefully and effectively.

The environmental impact of the building has been minimised through choice of materials and low energy ventilation, heating and lighting systems. The building envelope is thermally efficient and exploits passive ventilation drawing air from the cool undercroft to be exhausted via vents in the top of the roof.