The Gower School

The latest phase saw the renovation of the top floor of a former 19th Century hot chocolate factory and office space, converting it into a fantastic new learning space for students at the Montesorri school. The new space presented an opportunity to celebrate the generous new room height in a creative way. We suggested a reading tower would best maximise this asset. We designed a central plywood sculpture to create a joyful space to read and store books which, together with the existing external timber stair core, adds a literary nod to Tolkein’s ‘Two Towers’. Alongside this new feature we added additional reading nooks and views into the adjacent classrooms through triangular windows between the existing trusses. To minimise disruption the tower was manufactured off-site. In addition, several new classrooms spaces with WCs, kitchenettes, and work areas were created with new partitions, all to the same high-quality low-carbon specification throughout the building. The location of the existing staircases helped form the triangular workspace and circulation route through the building, which adds interest and delight to the new areas. New elements to this phase included the latest OCEAN smile plastic splashbacks from recycled plastic packaging, and wooden lockers to complement the plywood framed high-level storage units. Acquiring this floor to the school allowed the whole site to be transformed - with the school now managing the whole site. This meant we could provide new routes through the interlinked buildings and courtyards. To complement this strategy further we worked with artist Lara Sparey to transform the entrance gate and external staircases with beautiful images of nature and creatures made from 4mm steel, representing all the animals associated with each class group.