The Ritblat Building | Hawkins\Brown

Temporary classrooms, most of them beyond their serviceable life, have been replaced with a new building that flanks and overlooks vibrant tiered play spaces. Set within a Conservation Area and in the shadow of the school's impressive Victorian main building “The Ritblat Building,” as it has been named, provides new teaching spaces and a nursery as well as specialist science, art & design and learning support areas. At the heart of the new complex connecting the 2 wings is a new multi-use hall, large enough to accommodate the whole school. Cedar shingles, larch cladding and a wildflower green roof allow the school to blend harmoniously with the local landscape while the forms of the buildings evoke the existing Victorian main school building and open up previously obscured views of the Kent Weald. The cross-laminated timber structure was manufactured off site enabling the entire project to be completed in a single academic year, reducing both the inconvenience to the school during construction and the building’s carbon footprint. Furthermore the structure is exposed internally allowing the children to understand the building blocks of the school whilst creating a well-insulated, sustainable and sophisticated learning environment.