West Buckland
West Buckland
Art, Design and Theatre building for leading private school
West Buckland School is one of the premier schools in the Southwest of England with 700 students ranging in age from five to seventeen. The brief was to create the best educational facilities for Art, DT and Theatre in the Southwest of England, replacing poor existing buildings with a new high-quality contemporary structures.
The new building complex was conceived as a bold, modern extension to the impressive Victorian elevation of the existing schoolhouse. A courtyard formed by the two new buildings provides a social gathering space linking the old and new buildings and offers a sheltered meeting place where students can sit and socialise.
The structure was formed from prefabricated cross-laminated timber panels and clad in locally sourced stone and Siberian Larch boards. The larch will quickly weather to a silver-grey colour, echoing the stonework of the existing schoolhouse.
Internally the structural timber soffits and beams are exposed, lending the classrooms a natural warmth and integrity. The classrooms are finished with bespoke plywood fitted furniture, natural rubber floors and composite cork pinboards.
The use of a prefabricated timber building system has many environmental benefits, and the monolithic nature of the panels considerably reduced the number of construction joints, thereby improving its overall airtightness. A Building Management System was installed to control, monitor, and record all aspects of the buildings energy use, and to ensure that the building is always running at optimal efficiency.
The structure was formed from prefabricated cross-laminated timber panels and clad in locally sourced stone and Siberian Larch boards.
The larch will quickly weather to a silver-grey colour, echoing the stonework of the existing schoolhouse.
The use of a prefabricated timber building system has many environmental benefits, and the monolithic nature of the panels considerably reduced the number of construction joints, thereby improving its overall airtightness.
The classrooms are finished with bespoke plywood fitted furniture, natural rubber floors and composite cork pinboards.
