design solutions
Holmewood House - uniting the 19th and 21st centuries
The challenges of working round a listed building to create an exciting new space were overcome with style and imagination at this rural prep school
and upgrading loose external space. With the space chosen positioned
is an independent preparatory school, including a listed 19th century Decimus Burton mansion. Studio Partington was selected to
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redesign a large part of the building, working within an existing approved masterplan with listed buildings. The brief was to create new teaching spaces, including, classrooms, ICT facilities, a large multi-purpose learning hub and to rationalise circulation throughout the site by creating a new main pupil entrance
ET within 31 acres of beautiful countryside on the borders of both Kent and Sussex, Holmewood House
between an original sandstone ashlar mansion, a recently built classroom block in a uniform buff brick, and a dark red brick theatre, choosing brick as the prominent material has been key to successfully stitching new buildings into the historical site. Inspired by traditional collegiate brick detailing, the new entrance and brick cloister has become a play space for the children to use at break time, a meeting and assembly area, and the primary circulation route between school functions. A new well-defined cloistered courtyard
links all the circulation between buildings to give a focus and social heart to the previously disparate assembly of buildings. The ground floor multi-purpose space, The Hub is accessed directly from the new cloister, can be reconfigured to suit a variety of uses including conference facilities, examination rooms and a library. To facilitate flexibility a 13 x 18 m clear span was achieved by suspending the first-floor teaching level
from the roof structure. The Hub has been designed as a flexible space with bespoke moveable furniture and bookcases that can slide into the walls to provide a conference room or arranged to provide a recognisable library and learning environment. On the upper floor eight bright and well- proportioned new classrooms line a generously wide and high central circulation space, with large windows bringing in lots of natural light and giving views outwards of the listed mansion and landscaped grounds. Careful positioning of The Cloisters
enhances the new buildings relationship with the established landscape and provides upper level classrooms with long views across the grounds. It was imperative that the school
remained in operation during the works, 18
educationdab.co.uk
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