ROTHERHITHE PRIMARY SCHOOL, LONDON 17
The design of a two-storey volume around a courtyard allows for views across, out and through the school to give informal connections and relationships between indoor and outdoor spaces, but also views to specific trees and to the sky. The school and Southwark Council encouraged a flexible approach to designing specific rooms such as the library and IT and music areas, allowing for flexibility and combining of functions so that generous, multi-purpose modern spaces could be designed.
At each juncture in the design process, FCBStudios considered how each space could serve not only its core educational use, but also the many extra-curricular clubs, societies, and social support functions which are a pivotal part of the school’s wider responsibilities.
A particular quality of the existing school was its unusually generous playground, creatively programmed to offer a huge range of outdoor environments for learning, exploration and play. As perhaps the only safe play space some pupils have access to, Roberts notes, this area has been brought to life by a significant number of mature trees, offsetting some of the harshness of the
ADF MAY 2024
surrounding urban environment. “Re-creating this range and quality of outdoor spaces, to actively inspire and nurture the children, and retaining as many trees as possible, quickly became as important as the design and organisation of the internal spaces,” says Roberts. “The new school became conceived as ‘school in a garden’.” Classroom window openings are generous, and low enough for young children to see through. Window frames and louvres are of red oxide powder-coated aluminium, a marked, yet subtle contrast to the light brick cladding. Several aspects of the school’s design draw inspiration from the historic trade and maritime activities that once occupied the area, including shipbuilding, the timber trade and rope-making. “The language of monolithic brickwork was inspired by the site’s history,” Roberts explains. “The tiered central courtyard amphitheatre creates a secure, protected space which evokes the masonry dock basins which once harboured Rotherhithe’s fleet of cargo ships.” Helping fulfil the school’s vision for a calm learning environment as well as picking up references to ancient trading links between the River Thames and
THE GREAT OUTDOORS
A range of high quality external spaces have been provided to “actively inspire and nurture’ children
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