Neale Wade Community College
Cambridgeshire
Designed by RH Partnership.
18 February 2010
Tagged with: Secondary education | East of England | School design | Schools design
Overall design quality rating: not yet good enough
Comments:
This design integrates new educational facilities and improvements to the retained buildings through a cohesive site strategy that balances site openness with student safety. The arrivals strategy is effective and is reinforced by an internal ‘street,’ which provides useful links between the new and existing accommodation. Although the building arrangement inherently forms a good framework of external spaces, the design of the school grounds does not demonstrate practical external learning and social environments. Internally, the ‘street’ requires further work to articulate an inspiring space through the centre of the school. Its resolute design misses the opportunity to create a generous, open place given its importance in the proposal. The school wings benefit from relatively short travel distances with a workable cluster arrangement and access to the school grounds at the ground floor. The stairwells however could be better integrated into the internal layout, and positioned for improved passive supervision and future adaptability. While the environmental strategy is sound in principle, the fenestration design does not optimise ventilation and daylight to deliver a comfortable classroom environment. The performing arts block should contribute to an uplifting public face on the east façade of the building.