acoustics
YING UNDER the Heathrow flight path, the new Westbrook Primary School in the London Borough of Hounslow will have the particular challenge of providing substantial acoustic protection and at the same time achieve ambitious sustainability targets. Pollard Thomas Edwards architects’
(PTEa) designs, which have now received planning, ruled out many traditional acoustic solutions such as mechanical cooling. The proposed solution involves the installation of an earth tube system which draws fresh air remotely from the building, making it unnecessary to open windows for ventilation. The £8.9m development will allow the
Protecting a school under a flight path L
school to increase its accommodation from two- to three-form entry in a phased construction programme. A landscaped area with existing trees will border the west-side of the site, providing a green barrier between school buildings and the road. The design has prioritised wider community use both out of, and during, school hours, using carefully controlled access. All three halls are located close to the main public entrance, and can all be isolated from the main teaching areas. Classrooms are arranged in double year group clusters of six. Each cluster is then grouped around an additional shared and highly flexible teaching space.
www.ptea.co.uk
Meeting acoustic and aesthetic needs in hi-tech hub
tech central hub. The hub offers flexible teaching
K
environments with a multi-functional grand hall. The classrooms can double in size by making use of the movable walling. The classroom walls are constructed from glass allowing light to flood in and create bright learning spaces with an open feel. The old school buildings retained their 1940s brick outer with the benefit of 21st century interiors. In order to meet the different acoustic and aesthetic requirements, a total of 10,137 sqm of Knauf AMF Ceiling products were installed in the three buildings. The design for the grand hall features
54
educationdab.co.uk
ING’S LYNN Academy received £10.4m funding to refurbish its two existing buildings and build a new hi-
a number of hard reflective materials, including glass and metal, which can create poor acoustics. To overcome this, Thermatex Alpha tiles were installed around the top of the hall to provide Class A sound absorption and reduce the amount of reverberation. In all of the classrooms, Fine Stratos tiles were installed, using the AMF Ventatec grid system, to help absorb sound and improve speech intelligibility. Fine Stratos is a lightly textured tile with micro perforations. This gives the tile its high sound absorption which helps control unwanted noise in the main teaching and learning areas.
www.amfceilings.co.uk
Westbrook is one of a number of school designs in Hounslow developing noise mitigation strategies to help the Council tackle the significant aircraft noise which can impair educational development, particularly reading skills, in children of primary school age. The project has been awarded £100,000
from the Government’s Climate Change Technology Strategy Board to carry out research, develop strategy and implement proposals to future-proof the school against predicted changes to climate over a period of 100 years.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84