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Christ's College School

DSDHA, Surrey, 2009

 

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Plum-coloured brick entrance 

Helene Binet (website)     Download Original

  • Plum-coloured brick entrance    
  • The school as seen from the grounds    
  • The brick walls are deeply recessed at window openings    
  • Triple-height, timber-clad atrium     
  • Christ    
  • The Theatre    
  • A classroom    
  • The atrium from the first storey    
  • Supergraphics serve as way-finding through the school    
  • The back entrance elevation    
  • Aerial plan    
  • Siteplan    
  • Ground plan    
  • Ground plan    
  • First floor plan    
  • Rendered Section SE-NW    
  • Rendered Section SW-NE    
  • Working detail    
  • CHRV detail    

Secondary school with semi-glazed brick facades and interior atrium space. Shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize 2010

The brief formed part of a larger project to design an education campus that also comprised Pond Meadow School next door. The idea was to create a unified identity for the school and in doing so improve the quality of the architecture, communal spaces, and its sustainability.

Staff, pupils and visitors enter into a central light-filled, three-story atrium where the theatre, library and sports hall converge. A central staircase leads out of the atrium and moves up the building creating a frame for the classrooms and offices to be placed around.

A brick exterior is punctuated with windows set deep into the façade, while a ‘breathing wall' system provides each classroom with sustainable heating and ventilation through the perforated brick skin.

Data

  • Begun: Jun 2007
  • Completed: Jan 2009
  • Floor area: 7,350m2
  • Sector: Education
  • Total cost: £14.4M
  • Procurement: Design and Build
  • CO2 Emissions: 24.17kg/m2/year
  • Address: Larch Avenue, Guildford, Surrey, GU1 1JY, United Kingdom

Professional Team