Bartlett Design Research Folios
AY Architects
Design for Learning
AY ARCHITECTS
DESIGN FOR LEARNING
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BARTLETT DESIGN RESEARCH FOLIOS
AY Architects
Design for Learning: Camden Schools
AY ARCHITECTS
DESIGN FOR LEARNING
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CONTENTS
Project Details
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Statement about the Research Content and Process
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Introduction
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Aims and Objectives
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Questions
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Context
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Methodology
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Dissemination
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Project Highlights
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Bibliography
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Related Publications
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1 (previous) Eleanor Palmer Science Lab’s luminous window acts as a public sign to the street, recalling how its pupils made live contact with astronaut Kjell Lindgren on the International Space Station in 2015, an event that instigated this project.
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2 Eleanor Palmer Science Lab. Interior view of the building in use.
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Project Details Author
Yeoryia Manolopoulou
Co-author
Anthony Boulanger
Practice
Manolopoulou and Boulanger have researched and designed this work jointly through their co-founded practice AY Architects
Title
Design for Learning: Camden Schools
Output Type
Buildings
Projects/Dates
Camden School for Girls Main Building Extension (completed 2019) Camden School for Girls Sixth Form Building Extension (completed 2019) Eleanor Palmer Science Lab (completed 2018) Torriano School Entrance (phase 1 completed 2016)
Clients
Camden School for Girls, E leanor Palmer Primary School, Torriano Primary School
Practice Team Anthony Boulanger, Yeoryia Manolopoulou, St John Walsh, Sophie Cole, Eleanor Rose Connolly, Nadia Santos, Torris Kaul VarØystrand Structural Engineer Price & Myers Environmental and Ritchie+Daffin Building Services Quantity Surveyors
Stockdale
Main Contractors Conamar Building Services (Camden School for Girls), IMS Building Solutions (Eleanor Palmer Primary School), John Stidworthy (Torriano Primary School) Acoustic Survey
Fish Innovation
Ceramic Prototypes
Grymsdyke Farm, Viúva Lamego
Glass Reinforced Concrete
Amber Precast
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PROJECT DETAILS
Joinery
IMS Building Solutions, John Stidworthy
Play Equipment Design
Electric Pedals, Unit Lab
Film
Kevin Pollard, Henrietta Williams
Project Cost
£1.8 million
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3 Eleanor Palmer Science Lab, model of the design in plan and elevation.
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Statement about the Research Content and Process Description
Methodology
This folio demonstrates AY Architects’ sustained efforts in realising a group of six school building projects in Kentish Town, and the distinctive contributions they make to architecture and their communities. The work argues that educational and architectural experiences are defining from an early age and can be mutually advanced through interaction in carefully designed settings. Taken as a whole, the work confronts the UK’s underfunded state education system and redefines architecture’s capability to enrich school design.
1. Close engagement with the school community; 2. Critical analysis of site and context; 3. Examining architecture’s relation to pedagogy, particularly the educational philosophy of pragmatism and elements of the STEM curriculum; 4. Sustainable timber construction and passive environmental design; 5. Iterative design processes, involving drawing, physical models and full-scale prototypes.
Questions
1. How can architects respond to the current demands of state education to create valuable and inspiring additions to challenging school sites within tight budgets in an age of austerity?
Dissemination
All school buildings are heavily used by their communities. Between 2014 and 2020, there have been three public openings as part of Open House London. Since 2014, the architects have discussed their educational projects in seven publications and 15 lectures internationally, while the architectural press has reviewed the work in print and online (e.g. Architects’ Journal, Architecture Today, DOMUS, The RIBA Journal). A drawing and prototypes of the ceramic tiles for Torriano Primary School were exhibited at the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition 2016. A postoccupancy film on Eleanor Palmer Science Lab is available on Vimeo.
2. How can new school building typologies embody pedagogic ideas to enhance learning through experience? 3. What architectural practices can lead to harmonious and environment-minded school buildings? 4. How can architecture help existing schools acquire new significance in their local fabric?
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STATEMENT ABOUT THE RESEARCH CONTENT AND PROCESS
Project Highlights
Statement of Inclusion of Earlier Work
Over the last decade, AY Architects have realised a group of six exemplary state school building projects in Kentish Town. These buildings are regionally important for the communities they serve and have made a significant contribution to architecture, recognised by seven awards to date. The recently built Eleanor Palmer Science Lab is understood to be the first stand-alone building in the country specifically designed for teaching science and technology to primary school pupils. It offers an original all-timber sustainable building typology, which is suitable for other schools. It was the only state-funded, and the smallest, of just three educational buildings in the UK to win a RIBA National Award in 2019. The building has also won a RIBA London Award and a High Commendation in the Education and Public Sector category of the Wood Awards.
A brief mention of Montpelier Community Nursery and Torriano Infant School Library is made in order to explain the authors’ ongoing research on all-timber buildings and their succession of educational projects in North London. Since these two buildings were completed in 2013, an organic continuity of commissions from one project to the next followed, leading to the design of four further school building projects in the same area that are the main subject of this folio.
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Introduction
Each commission was won largely based on the success and reputation of a previous school building in Kentish Town designed by the architects. Montpelier Community Nursery (4) (Stephen Lawrence Prize Winner, RIBA National Award Winner, Stirling Prize Midlist, 2013) and Torriano Infant School Library (5) (2013) were early projects in the series that were successfully received.
Through design practice, this research seeks mutually beneficial possibilities and connections that can be made between pedagogy and architecture. It asks how space learns and what it teaches; how we learn in space and what we learn from space. Of special importance are constructivist educational philosophies and a design-led approach to school architecture that values human experience, community and environment. AY Architects has spent the last decade working directly with state schools in North London to successfully deliver six innovative, well-crafted and environment-minded building interventions, spanning from nursery to sixth form education. Individually and collectively, these projects critique standardised approaches to educational buildings and far exceed expectations of minimum requirements set by the government’s programme of ‘baseline designs and strategies for schools’ (Education Funding Agency 2011). Though modest in scale, they contribute to a new phase in the history of school building in the UK, contrasting restrictive sector-wide responses and typologies with specialised solutions that prioritise spatial quality and make sustainable design improvements; use timber construction for stand-alone buildings, marking a shift in the educational construction sector in the UK; and offer new typologies of provision, such as the country’s first stand-alone science building for primary school children.
4 Montpelier Community Nursery, external view. 5 Torriano Infant School Library, external view.
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INTRODUCTION
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An organic continuity of four further commissions followed from one project to the next:
Torriano School Entrance
A low-budget project involving an extension and refurbishment of the existing entrance building of Torriano Primary School, which was built in 1998 as an extension to the original 1910 Edwardian Arts and Crafts building. Reflecting the school’s focus on green living, attention was given to the existing building, pupil-centred workshops, the role of daylight and natural materials, and the making of an original tactile façade led by a research study on mouldings and ceramics found in Victorian and Edwardian architecture. Whilst the refurbishment was completed in 2016 (73), funded by school reserves, the extension remains unbuilt due to a lack of funds (6).
6 Interpretive drawing of Torriano Primary School, showing the integration of the proposed entrance.
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INTRODUCTION
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INTRODUCTION
Eleanor Palmer Science Lab
Part of Camden Council’s programme for developing the STEM curriculum (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) and supported by Section 106 grant funding, the small stand-alone Science Lab is a pioneering model building typology, dedicated to the teaching of sciences to nursery and primary school pupils. Made entirely out of timber, it is understood to be the first of its kind in the UK. AY Architects’ iterative design process focused on how the building’s ‘physics’ can create an environment-conscious classroom. The Lab includes vitrines with a growing collection of specimens and objects brought in by the school community, and shares its resources with other schools. It was completed in 2018 (7).
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7 Eleanor Palmer Science Lab with its external bench facing the rest of the school and play area.
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Camden School for Girls Main Building Extension
The school – founded in 1871 by Frances Mary Buss, one of the great pioneers of women’s education – promotes an ethos of excellence that the architects tried to match with their response. The two-storey extension provides a new entrance volume and gallery, additional dining and staff areas, and an improved landscape on an incredibly compromised site. Beyond the coherence and spatial qualities of the design, the authors researched the development of an external, highly crafted, glass reinforced concrete (GRC) panel system. This system feeds off of the host building, a 1950s pre-cast concrete block infill that replaced part of the original Victorian school building damaged in the Second World War (8).
Camden School for Girls Sixth Form Building Extension
This project, also on a confined site, uses sustainable principles to improve and extend the existing sixth form block with a small two-storey volume that accommodates teaching, sociability and study areas, while making improvements to existing classrooms. Emphasis was placed on the use of passive environmental principles and the design of the brick envelope that establishes material continuity with the existing building. Both projects for Camden School for Girls – completed in 2019 – were primarily funded by Camden Council’s Community Investment Programme (CIP), which supports sustainable design improvements for schools, along with school reserves and school-organised fundraising (9).
8 The Camden School for Girls Main Building Extension gives a new welcoming entrance to the school campus containing buildings from different times. 9 The Sixth Form Building Extension extends the existing 1990s block, while also making valuable internal improvements.
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INTRODUCTION
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Aims and Objectives
Questions
1. To examine and advance architecture’s role in supporting and sustaining education;
1. How can architects respond to the current demands of state education to create valuable and inspiring additions to challenging school sites within tight budgets in an age of austerity?
2. To engage with local schools in creating high-quality sustainable buildings that far exceed current standards when little capital investment is being made in the state school sector in an age of austerity;
These urban projects typically face difficulties that include the absence of a clear site in limited and disjointed school grounds, and the systemic absence of adequate funding. Architects need to study the way each school operates to define suitable locations for building, making the most out of small footprints so that spaces around them are enhanced rather than restricted. They also need to work with small and phased budgets, and support schools with fundraising. Working directly with school bodies, as opposed to local authority procurement procedures, competitive tendering processes or as part of a framework, has proven to be a good model for delivering small school projects and has largely contributed to their success. All projects were directly managed by head teachers and governing bodies, with clear visions for spatial quality, innovation and sustainability. For Eleanor Palmer Science Lab, the RIBA Awards jury noted:
3. To create inspiring additions on challenging school sites, revitalising their grounds and identity in the community; 4. To design for everyone, following inclusive design strategies; 5. To realise an environment-conscious building typology for teaching science and technology to primary school pupils; 6. To explicitly demonstrate the logic of a building’s construction and passive environmental design principles as an experiential learning tool for children; 7. To explore how to extend pedagogic settings to exterior landscapes.
… this small wooden structure answers its programmatic and architectural brief with aplomb.… An empathetic client/architect relationship has resulted in the creation of a delightful, multi layered, beguilingly fresh new building typology for primary school children to engage their curiosity and enjoyment of the sciences. An excellent example of simple, thoughtful passive environmental design … (RIBA Awards 2019).
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AIMS AND OBJECTIVES / QUESTIONS
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10 The new laboratory building replaced an underused canopy.
11 (overleaf) Exploded axonometric of the Science Lab in its context, showing how the design mediates three separate play areas.
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QUESTIONS
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12 Plan with unfolded elevations, showing the interior of the new building typology.
13 (overleaf) The footprint of the new building matches that of the old canopy, without loss of any playground area.
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2. How can new school building typologies embody pedagogic ideas to enhance learning through experience?
Experiential learning largely depends on what is afforded by the physical reality of spaces surrounding the child. Recognising that the environment plays an active role in learning, AY Architects focused on investigating how the materiality and atmosphere of a setting can affect sensory experience. Spatial coherence, adaptability, inclusive design and the value of outdoor learning were also important considerations. For the Eleanor Palmer Science Lab, two different building typologies that prompt self-determined curiosity and enquiry were explored and merged. The outcome was a hybrid building form combining the atmosphere and practicality of the garden shed with the highly curated qualities of a sixteenth-century ‘cabinet of curiosities’ (14–5): A garden shed built out of timber tends to make the architecture entirely legible. Intuitively unpacking the building’s logical geometry, its economical construction, and its structural, material and environmental properties, is a lesson in itself. The wonder-room, on the other hand, is a total theatre of visual learning. Objects and pictures tell stories, create knowledge and ask questions about the world we experience; a pedagogic practice in its own right (Manolopoulou 2019).
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QUESTIONS
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14 Recalling the idea of a premodern museum, Ole Worm’s cabinet of curiosities from Museum Wormianum, 1654. 15 (overleaf) The all-timber laboratory is conceived as a ‘wonder room’ and practical workshop.
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3. What architectural practices can lead to harmonious and environment-minded school buildings?
Manolopoulou and Boulanger’s practice has a profound interest in sustainable construction, integrating passive environmental design principles and reducing a building’s reliance on energy consuming equipment, and strives to make these principles comprehensible to users. These are central aims for their practice, even when working with poorly maintained existing buildings suffering from chronic disinvestment. Early-stage architect/engineer collaboration is key to a project’s success, because it allows engineering input to be holistically embodied in the architecture rather than being plugged-in. The servicing of buildings is kept simple and much of the environmental control is provided within the building fabric, such as the intelligent use of façade and roof openings for the natural flow of light and air following passive environmental principles. The architects’ three small stand-alone school buildings (Montpelier Community Nursery, Torriano Infant School Library and Eleanor Palmer Science Lab) are exemplary for their sustainable construction methods. They mark a turning point in the future of timber building for the school sector in the UK; following examples of school buildings in Japan, such as those by Tezuka Architects.
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16 Digital model, view of the Camden School for Girls Main Building twostorey extension, which provides maximum daylight, generous ceiling heights, added visual links and a new landscape. 17 Camden School for Girls Main Building Extension, view of the upper-floor staff area during construction.
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QUESTIONS
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18 Camden School for Girls Main Building Extension, view of the upper-floor staff area after completion. 19 (overleaf) Eleanor Palmer Science Lab, view towards the Science Garden. The roof openings bring in northern light and the discreet ventilation shutters are open (seen on the right of the image).
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4. How can architecture help existing schools acquire new significance in their local fabric?
Many school sites in London evolve incrementally in short-sighted ways to satisfy immediate needs. Manolopoulou and Boulanger argue that any building intervention, no matter how small, should try to create a coherent, future-proof response, and also consider architecture’s capacity as a cultural signifier to reaffirm the school’s public role in the local fabric. For example, the new Science Lab offers a large, deep and luminous display window onto the street, specially curated with a gigantic astronaut’s helmet. This clearly signals the introduction of the science lab in the area, while making Eleanor Palmer Primary School visible to this side of its community for the first time (21–3).
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20 Eleanor Palmer Science Lab, interior view. 21 Eleanor Palmer Science Lab, internal view of the deep display window looking towards Fortess Road. 22 (overleaf) Eleanor Palmer Science Lab, site plan and street elevation.
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QUESTIONS
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QUESTIONS
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Context
More recently, Building Schools for the Future (BSF) – initiated in 2003 – was the first comprehensive building programme set out to rebuild or revamp all of the country’s 3,500 secondary schools, with a total investment of £55 billion. In 2007, the Primary Capital Programme (PCP) was launched, aiming to renovate about half of the country’s 17,000 primary schools, with a total investment of £7.6 billion. Both programmes were, however, cancelled in 2010, affecting over 700 already agreed school building projects, as a result of the financial crisis and change of government. It is within this context that visionary and committed school clients and architects work hard to do a lot with very little.
School Building in the UK
The history of state sector school building in the UK is characterised by a few sustained periods of centralised procurement with clearly emerging architectural typologies, coupled with long periods of underinvestment with a focus on maintaining and adapting existing school facilities. AY Architects’ work falls into the latter category, in a time of austerity when the government is investing very little in school building and refurbishment. School building during the 1930s was slowed by poor economic circumstances and lack of funding from parsimonious governments. After one in five schools in England were destroyed or severely damaged in the Second World War, the Consortium of Local Authorities Special Programme (CLASP) was established to utilise a lightweight modular steel-framed building system to support a surge in school rebuilding and expansions. This construction method was widely deployed throughout the country until the late 1970s and was used to rebuild sections of several of London’s Victorian school buildings damaged by the war, including Camden School for Girls. The system was, however, heavily criticised as a short-lived solution that neglected environmental considerations and the specific needs of site and user. Gradually, local authorities started to bring in their own architectural approaches as a reaction to generic prefabricated systems. Hampshire County Architect, Colin Stansfield Smith, notably contributed to this movement by eschewing the standardisation of design to produce distinctive school buildings (1979– 92) with an emphasis on the environment and a more flexible use of communal and circulation areas.
23 (previous) Eleanor Palmer Science Lab viewed from Fortess Road, with the roof receding from the boundary wall and the ‘vitrine’ window penetrating it.
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CONTEXT
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24 View of the original Camden School for Girls brick building meeting the 1957 modular concrete building that replaced its section damaged by the war. 25 The original Victorian building of Camden School for Girls as it exists today, partial view. 26 Torriano Primary School Entrance, model of existing entrance and proposed scheme at concept design stage.
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Pedagogy and Architecture
construction is entirely visible, and no other materials interfere, making the educational environment feel like a jigsaw of interlocking pieces of wood (28). AY Architects’ research also examines how curriculum meets design: the content of the STEM primary school curriculum (DoE 2000) can match architectural objectives such as how a building teaches through its physicality and integrated technology; how it can use taxonomy and play in inclusive ways; and how it can engage with living habitats and the outdoor environment.
The design work presented in this folio is influenced by constructivist and enquirybased pedagogic approaches, originally argued by the pragmatist philosopher and educational reformer, John Dewey, who highlighted the role of experience in learning (Dewey 1938). It is supported by the idea that the environment is ‘a third teacher’ and that the classroom is a ‘living organism’, as maintained by the Reggio Emilia Principles (Edwards, Gandini and Forman 1991). The social content of schools as places where we learn how to live together, put forward by Herman Hertzberger, is also considered (27). Harry Mallgrave proposes that ‘architecture is at heart a phenomenal experience’ conditioning three parallel realms: the biological realm of human health, the realm of emotional and aesthetic responses, and the sociocultural realm (Mallgrave 2018). In these school buildings, human experience is fostered by a design approach that is as unprescriptive as possible to allow free social interaction and perpetual curation by the users. Attention to daylight and the proportion of spaces is combined with a limited and neutral palette of well-crafted and robust materials that minimise visual distraction and age well. Tezuka Architects’ recent nursery buildings in Japan are of particular relevance to AY Architects. Their Asahi Kindergarten in Minamisanriku – one of 15 new kindergartens funded by UNICEF for the recovery of settlements affected by the Tohoku earthquake in 2011 – was built economically and sustainably using salvaged cedar trees. The fell trees – originally planted in 1611 after another tsunami had hit the same area – form the building’s load-bearing columns, beams, floorboards and handrails. The
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27 Meeting area, Apollo Schools in Amsterdam by Herman Hertzberger, Henk de Weijer and Jan Rietvink, 1980–3.
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CONTEXT
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28 Asahi Kindergarten by Tezuka Architects in Minamisanriku, Japan, 2016. The building was made using salvaged fell trees after the Tohoku earthquake in 2011.
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Methodology 1. Close engagement with the school community
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Working with advisory groups such as LabRats at Eleanor Palmer Primary School, made up of committed staff, parents, governors and pupils, who provided important input on a fortnightly basis; Attending lessons and exemplary settings together with school bodies, e.g. the fieldtrip to Lab_13 at Gillespie Primary School with LabRats, necessary for developing an innovative brief; Drawing workshops with pupils, giving them the opportunity to participate in design conversations; Presentations at school assemblies; Public consultation events and exhibitions; Returning to the buildings on a voluntary basis to document how they are used, as demonstrated in a film about the life of Eleanor Palmer Science Lab, developed in collaboration with the school; Collaborating with schools to organise Open House London events; Maintaining relationships with the schools post-completion, and continuing to support them informally; Securing future commissions based on fulfilling ongoing client/architect relationships, e.g. two realised commissions to date for Torriano Primary School, while a third commission is currently in discussion with Camden School for Girls.
29 The architects and Eleanor Palmer Primary School staff and pupils visiting Lab_13 Gillespie Primary School to learn from its enquiry-led science curriculum.
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30 Manolopoulou and Boulanger presenting their ideas at a school assembly.
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31 Public consultation for the design of the new Science Lab at Eleanor Palmer Primary School.
32 Design ideas by Torriano Primary School pupils, produced at a drawing workshop run by AY Architects.
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2. Critical analysis of site and context
The design of Torriano School Entrance, fronting the main Arts and Crafts building, is directed by systematic research on moulding types and ceramic technologies. These studies of the original building led to the creation of three ceramic prototypes of fluted tiles to be used as part of a welcoming tactile façade (33-5). At Eleanor Palmer Primary School, reusing the footprint of an underused canopy allowed for the new laboratory building to be accommodated without loss of playground amenities. A structural design was developed that protected a large section of the Victorian wall it abutted from the risk of collapse. It also enabled the creation of a display window looking onto a main road.
34 Torriano School Entrance, early stage concept drawing.
33 Flutes, drawing of the profiles of the three ceramic tiles designed for Torriano Primary School.
35 Flutes, full-size prototypes made out of high-density foam milled by a Computer Numerical Control (CNC) router.
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36 Camden School for Girls Building Extensions, preliminary site layout and access strategy indicating the two sites.
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METHODOLOGY
The design for Camden School for Girls resolves complex access, security, safety, visibility and flexibility requirements. A continuous stepped landscape responds to outdoor social needs and the challenging conditions fronting the existing building. Research on the grid and the concept of repetition in art and architecture led to the design of a characterful glass reinforced concrete (GRC) envelope that contrasts with the existing concrete frame building, giving the school a new architectural identity (36). Locating the Sixth Form Building Extension to the existing 1990s block was difficult due to site constraints and a neighbouring Grade II-listed house. The new two-storey extension is thus situated on the only location acceptable to planners. Close analysis of the architectural context resulted in a design with its own identity as an end piece to the overall building. The end walls have windows concealed behind perforated brick openings, allowing for natural ventilation, whereas the first-floor level enjoys north-facing openable clerestory windows and large windows to either side (37).
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37 Camden School for Girls Sixth Form Building Extension, illustrated view of the proposal and context.
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METHODOLOGY
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38 Camden School for Girls Main Building Extension, illustration of AY Architects’ scheme. 39 Camden School for Girls Main Building Extension, illustrated view of the main entrance.
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3. Examining architecture’s relation to pedagogy, particularly the educational philosophy of pragmatism and elements of the STEM curriculum
A school building should be an experiential learning tool, enabling enquiry and wonder. For the Science Lab, Manolopoulou and Boulanger’s practice considered how architecture could physically embody the principles of the STEM curriculum: processes, forces, materials, energy and living things (41). These were expressed in the environmental operations of the building, as well as the experimental possibilities it affords, with its open plan and high-ceiling arrangement and specialised fittings. The timber structure becomes a teaching device, engaging children with geometry and technology, through which they are able to unpack and analyse the parts of the building intuitively. The team also defined architecture as a place for curation and taxonomy, hosting living and non-living things: an open-ended changeable cabinet of curiosities. The Lab works as a contemporary repository for artefacts, unique specimens and instruments brought in by the community, while also supporting experimental workshops and collaborations with scientists and artists in residence. Inclusive principles are followed throughout, e.g. a counter for experiments and cooking is built at two heights to accommodate different age groups. A science garden – designed in collaboration with Electric Pedals and Unit Lab – completes the project, extending learning outside the building. It provides energy generating bicycles that power music and lighting for an outdoor disco, water collection, planting and anamorphic play equipment (42).
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40 Eleanor Palmer Science Lab, early sketch on its site location and links.
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41 Eleanor Palmer Science Lab, concept sketch for the potential integration of the science curriculum in the building’s architectural form and performance.
METHODOLOGY
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42 The Science Garden includes a fully functioning outdoor disco powered by energy-generating bicycles, designed by Electric Pedals, and reflective anamorphic play equipment, designed by Unit Lab.
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4. Sustainable timber construction and passive environmental design
Integrated within the roof are two triangular sections that extend 1.5 metres above the main roof level, with northfacing windows that give good daylight. These sections allow for tall experiments and the hanging of objects, and accommodate discrete hatches that use the stack effect to naturally ventilate the classroom. The roof structure is designed to the maximum available lengths of sawn spruce beams, avoiding the use of composite timber (48–9). The exterior of the building is protected by a hard-wearing Siberian Larch rainscreen. Its robust horizontal cladding is closely spaced at low level, to ensure protection from playground impact and to prevent small fingers from getting trapped. The spacing of the profiles increases at a higher level to give a lighter effect, while facilitating natural air flow via concealed vents (50).
AY Architects, structural engineers Price & Myers and building services engineers Ritchie+Daffin have a long-standing collaboration through which design and research sessions take place from the beginning of each project. This allows structural and environmental ideas to actively shape a concept from the outset. Physical models at various scales, built by the architects, are a constant conduit for conversation as these sessions evolve (45–7). Montpelier Community Nursery has been critically acclaimed for its outstanding architecture and environmental sensibility. Eleanor Palmer Science Lab, built five years later, follows similar considerations: it is an energy efficient, all-timber building, designed with a holistic sustainability approach from the start. FSC-certified timber is used for both the primary and secondary structure of the building, the internal linings, all built-in furniture and the external cladding. All structural elements – sawn spruce beams, columns and joists – are used in standard sawn sizes to minimise waste. The timber construction is low cost, yet of outstanding design and craft quality.
43 Eleanor Palmer Science Lab, view of the timber structure during construction. The short beams on the left of the columns help to restrain the Victorian boundary wall behind the blockwork.
44 Eleanor Palmer Science Lab, view of the counter built at two heights to support different age groups.
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METHODOLOGY
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45-6 Eleanor Palmer Science Lab, iterative design through physical model making.
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METHODOLOGY
47 Timber frame development, photographs of test models built at 1:25 scale. 47
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48 (overleaf) Drawings of the timber structure with primary and secondary elements in standard sawn sizes, showing beam and column connections in the lower and upper roof levels.
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5. Iterative design processes involving drawing, physical models and full-scale prototypes
Rigorous and tireless testing through drawing, physical modelling and prototyping is necessary at all design phases and scales. For Torriano Primary School, the project involved experimentation with different casting techniques and clay types. High-density foam tile prototypes and 3D prints at different sizes were made with Grymsdyke Farm in Buckinghamshire, before ceramic test pieces were produced as ‘extruded’ casts in collaboration with Viúva Lamego in Portugal. Extensive testing was necessary to overcome warping after drying, caused by the different depths of tile profile (51–3). More than 30 physical models were made for the timber construction of the Science Lab in order to achieve a cohesive design, using only what was structurally and aesthetically necessary and avoiding material and formal waste.
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49 (previous) Eleanor Palmer Science Lab, upper-ceiling view of one of the upper-level roof triangular sections. 50 (previous) View of the rainscreen with different horizontal spacings in the timber cladding.
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51 Flutes, ceramic tests at Grymsdyke Farm. 52 Flutes, 3D-printed test of one of the tile types. 53 Torriano School Entrance, construction drawing of the individual plywood panels cut, and assembled into a 3D wall and furniture piece for the main reception.
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54 Flutes, a full-scale prototype combining ten tiles (of three types) as exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts, London. 55 Eleanor Palmer Science Lab, card models at design development phase.
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56–8 Continual physical modelling investigating the geometry and construction of the Science Lab building.
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Several pleated card models helped to conceive the external GRC envelope that wraps the Camden School for Girls Main Building Extension, followed by a number of ambitious full-scale prototypes that had to be produced by Amber Precast in close collaboration with the architects. The design is influenced by research on Sol LeWitt’s vertical, horizontal and diagonal line drawings (59) and James Stirling’s prefabricated concrete panels for Andrew Melville Hall at the University of St Andrews (1967) (60). The diagonal pleats play against the homogeneity of the existing building, creating a vivid surface that captures sun and rain to express constant change (61).
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59 Sol LeWitt, A Square Divided Horizontally and Vertically into Four Equal Parts, Each with a Different Direction of Alternating Parallel Bands of Lines, 1982.
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60 James Stirling, Andrew Melville Hall, University of St Andrews. View of building site, 1963–8. 61 James Stirling, Andrew Melville Hall, University of St Andrews. View of building in use, 1970.
62 (overleaf) Camden School for Girls Main Building Extension, GRC cladding panels, unfolded elevation and detail horizontal sections, elevations and isometric views.
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METHODOLOGY
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63 Mould for the manufacturing of GRC panels, made by Amber Precast. 64–5 GRC panels during manufacturing by Amber Precast.
66–7 (overleaf) Camden School for Girls Main Building Extension, views of building after completion.
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For the Sixth Form intervention, multiple drawings were produced to detail the brick design, involving a number of brick specials for perforated openings, window reveals and soffits (70). The team has researched and tested school design concepts in other unrealised projects, such as the Urban Primary School, Dublin (RIAI international competition, 2015) (72), and through an informal collaboration with BBC Learning for the design of a small prefabricated library unit, deployable across the UK (Book House, national campaign proposal, 2017).
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68 (previous) Camden School for Girls Main Building Extension, view of the pleated texture of the new cladding envelope.
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69 Camden School for Girls Sixth Form Building Extension, new classroom after completion.
METHODOLOGY
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70 Camden School for Girls Sixth Form Building Extension, view of the new building in use.
71 (overleaf) Camden School for Girls Sixth Form Building, unfolded elevation, detailing of brick types and setting out.
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Dissemination
Exhibitions
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All school buildings are heavily used by their communities. Between 2014 and 2020, there have been three public openings as part of Open House London. Since 2014, the architects have discussed their educational projects in seven publications and 15 lectures internationally, while the architectural press has reviewed the work in print and online (e.g. Architects’ Journal, Architecture Today, DOMUS, The RIBA Journal), including a chapter in the forthcoming book, Designing in Timber (2021). A drawing and the prototypes of the ceramic tiles for Torriano Primary School were exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2016. A film on Eleanor Palmer Science Lab, describing the life of the building after its completion, is available on Vimeo.
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Open House London, Eleanor Palmer Science Lab (2020, cancelled) 100% Design, Olympia, London (2019) Summer Exhibition 2016, Flutes – drawing and prototypes, Royal Academy of Arts, London (2016) Open House London, Montpelier Community Nursery, London (2014, 2015, 2017)
Selected Lectures
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Film
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Eleanor Palmer Science Lab: AY Architects (2019). Directed by Henrietta Williams. Sound: Kevin Pollard. [Viewed 9 December 2020]. https://vimeo.com/321484093
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72 (previous) Illustration of AY Architects’ proposal for the Urban Primary School, RIAI architectural competition, Dublin.
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RIBA Journal PiP Education Seminar, London (2020) Architectural Association of Ireland, Trinity College Dublin (2018) Critical Practice, Architectural Association, London (2018) Cyprus Architects Association, Nicosia (2018) Surface Design Show, London (2018) World Architecture Festival, Amsterdam (2018) Centre for Architectural Education, University College Cork (2017) Design International Week, University of Quebec, Montreal, keynote (2017) Nursery World Business Summit, London (2017) CEPT University, School of Architecture, Ahmedabad (2015) Czech Technical University in Prague, School of Architecture (2015) Edinburgh College of Art (2015) Practicing Ethics, University College London (2015) University of East London (2015) Open City’s Green Sky Thinking, London School of Economics (2014)
DISSEMINATION / SIGNIFICANCE
Project Highlights Over the past decade, AY Architects have realised a series of six exemplary state school building projects in Kentish Town. This growing series is regionally important for the communities it serves. It has been a catalyst for small-scale local regeneration – such as the upgrading of Montpelier Community Gardens in 2014, which happened only after the completion of the Nursery – and has made a significant contribution to architecture, recognised by seven awards to date. The recently built Eleanor Palmer Science Lab is understood to be the first stand-alone building in the country specifically designed for the teaching of science and technology to young pupils. It offers an original all-timber sustainable building typology, suitable to support other schools. It was the only statefunded, and smallest, of just three educational buildings in the UK to win a RIBA National Award in 2019.
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Awards
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Winner, RIBA London Award, 2019 Winner, RIBA National Award, 2019 High Commendation, Wood Awards: Education and Public Sector, 2019
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73 The new Torriano School Entrance in use. 74 Flutes, drawing and prototype exhibition in the Architecture Room of the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition 2016.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bibliography Department for Education (2013). Science Programmes of Study: Key Stages 1 and 2. London: Department for Education. [Viewed 23 September 2020]. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/ government/uploads/system/uploads/ attachment_data/file/425618/PRIMARY_ national_curriculum_-_Science.pdf Dewey, J. (1938). Experience & Education. New York: Collier Books. Edwards, C., Gandini, L. and Forman, G., eds (2011). The Hundred Languages of Children; The Reggio Emilia Experience in Transformation. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. Mallgrave, H. F. (2018). From Object to Experience: The New Culture of Architectural Design. London: Bloomsbury. Manolopoulou, Y. (2019). ‘A Hundred Worlds in a Garden Shed: On Creating Environments that Elicit the Excitement of Learning’. Roca Gallery. [Viewed 26 July 2020]. www.rocagallery com/a-hundred-worldsin-a-garden-shed The RIBA Journal (2019). ‘Eleanor Palmer Science Lab, Camden’. The RIBA Journal. [Viewed 26 July 2020]. www.ribaj.com/buildings/regional-awards2019-london-ay-architects-educationeleanor-palmer-science-lab
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75 Eleanor Palmer Science Lab in use, viewed from the playground during school break.
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Related Publications by the Researchers Boulanger, A. and Manolopoulou, Y. (2017). ‘Montpelier Community Nursery’. EK Magazine and Hellenic Institute of Architecture, eds. Letter from London: Greek Students and Architects in the United Kingdom 1955–2015. pp. 102–3. Boulanger, A. and Manolopoulou, Y. (2018). ‘Grand Designs: Environment has a Major Effect on Well-being…’. Nursery Management. Spring. pp. 29–30. Boulanger, A. and Manolopoulou, Y. (2019). ‘Eleanor Palmer Science Lab’. Architects’ Journal Specification. June. pp. 38–49. Manolopoulou, Y. (2019). ‘A Hundred Worlds in a Garden Shed: On Creating Environments that Elicit the Excitement of Learning’. Roca Gallery. 20 December. [Viewed 26 July 2020] www.rocagallery.com/a-hundred-worlds-in-a-garden-shed
Manolopoulou, Y. (2020). ‘Serial Objects: Tiles Conceived for Torriano Primary School and GRC Cladding at Camden School for Girls’. Architecture Today: Specification Today. 307. p. 40.
Jury Statements RIBA Awards (2019). ‘Eleanor Palmer Science Lab’. RIBA. Wood Awards (2019). ‘Eleanor Palmer Science Lab’. Wood Awards.
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RELATED PUBLICATIONS
Related Writings by Others Architecture Today (2019). ‘Wonder Room’. Architecture Today. 3 May. Astbury, J. (2019). ‘AY Architects Adds Timber Science Laboratory to London School’. Dezeen. 9 September. Chapman, H. (2019). ‘Eleanor Palmer Primary School’s Science Lab Wins Prestigious Design Award’. Camden New Journal. 26 July. Davis, A. (2014). ‘Stephen Lawrence’s Legacy Lives On’. The Voice. 18 September. Morris, N. (2020). ‘Bring the Engineer in Early for a Truly Energy Efficient Building: Architects Reveal how their Collaborations with Engineers on Low-Carbon Builds have Unlocked a World of Design Possibilities’. RIBA. 20 August. Open House London (2014). ‘Archifacts Sheet: Montpelier Community Nursery’. Unpaginated. Peluso, S. (2019). ‘Wooden Triangles Enliven London Science Laboratory’. DOMUS. 26 June. Rawstrone, A. (2019). ‘Super Structures’. Nursery World. Spring. pp. 22–3. The Architecture Foundation (2016). ‘AY Architects’. New Architects 3. London: Merrell Publishing. pp. 66–9. The RIBA Journal (2019). ‘Eleanor Palmer Science Lab, Camden’. The RIBA Journal. Trada (2020). ‘Eleanor Palmer Science Lab’. Trada. 25 March. Wilson, R. (2019). ‘RIBA National Award Winners 2019: School’. Architects’ Journal. 246 (12). pp. 20–1, 80, 84. Printed article
Online article (clickable link)
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Image Credits
Bartlett Design Research Folios
All images © AY Architects, unless otherwise stated.
ISSN 2753-9822
Photo: Nick Kane 4 Photo: Daniel Stier 14 Wikimedia Commons 27 © Herman Hertzberger / Photo: Johan van der Keuken 28 Photo: Kida Katsuhisa / FOTOTECA 59 © ARS, NY and DACS, London 2022 60 James Stirling / Michael Wilford fonds Collection Centre Canadien d’Architecture, Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montréal 61 © Richard Einzig / Arcaid Images 1, 7, 13, 15, 19–21, 23, 44, 49–50, 75
© 2022 The Bartlett School of Architecture. All rights reserved. Text © the authors Founder of the series and lead editor: Yeoryia Manolopoulou Edited by Yeoryia Manolopoulou, Barbara Penner, Phoebe Adler Picture researcher: Sarah Bell Additional project management: Srijana Gurung Graphic design: Objectif Layout and typesetting: Siâron Hughes Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders of the material reproduced in this publication. If there have been any omissions, we will be pleased to make appropriate acknowledgement in revised editions.
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