Designed by Dixon Jones, The redevelopment brief for Marlborough School was extremely challenging. In addition to requiring a large primary school with over 2,500m2 of external play areas, the local authority?s brief also called for a new commercial building (offices/ retail) and a pedestrian link to be provided across this constrained urban site. The challenge was therefore how to achieve a significant increase in density within the 80x40m footprint whilst also creating a fitting replacement for a Victorian School which had previously stood on the site since 1878.
Photography: Paul Riddle
Massing constraints posed by a 10 story apartment block to the east contrasted with a 5 story blank party wall to the west resulted in a stepped section across the site establishing a series of cascading ?garden terraces? offering a rich diversity of external play areas accessed directly from classrooms. The school is organized around this vertical section starting with the youngest pupils at ground (3-5y) through to the junior pupils at the top (9-11y).
The stepped section allows larger communal spaces to be created underneath where the Main Hall and Multi-Use Space form the social heart of the school lined with oak paneling and bathed in light from two central roof lights.
Model
This ambitious scheme warranted extensive dialogue with the Local Planning Authority. The design was developed to ensure the proposed massing and robust masonry detailing with characteristic stone banding would...