Case study - St. Benedict's chool: Re-invigorating the school through creative design

1. St. Benedict’s School - re-invigorating the school through creative design remodelling education spaces Chris Cleugh & Simon Henley

5. The Brief Assembly hall Examination hall Languages department Music School Chapel Visitor & staff entrance Medical facilities WCs & lockers

6. “ the best refurbishment projects address the whole school site- even if only parts of it will be subject to major change. The least successful look at only bits of the school and don’t take the trouble to understand how they will integrate with or affect the other parts.” New from Old: Transforming Secondary Schools Through Refurbishment , CABE 2009

7. The wider school in its residential neighbourhood

8. Reinvigorate the whole school

9. The Site – one building had a detrimental affect on the school realm

10. The Plan…responding to the brief, to build at the heart of the school

11. Looking to ecclesiastical architecture to communicate the school’s ideology and faith-based culture

12. The Cloisters public spaces are… “ sites for the cultivation of a common citizenship” Michael Sandall, Reith Lectures 2009

13. A piece of infrastructure… looking at the whole school

14. Symbolic Entrance

15. An impromptu meeting

16. Assembly

17. Rehearsal

18. Performance

19. Culture – the ever present Chapel

20. Informal & formal

21. Passive environmental design lighting, ventilation & acoustics

22. Classrooms – the new wing mirrors the existing one

23. A Classroom

24. Square 360 degree classroom

25. North Court a new space between the buildings

26. Theatre of everyday life

27. New focus for movement between floors

28. Changes in level stitching floors together

29. Revealing connections between spaces

30. Green roof a plausible terra firma & garden

31. Music School a different character & acoustic

32. Music School naturally lit & ventilated

33. Chapel – skylight & windows cast symbolic light

34. Forging dynamic connections

35. Forging connections – robust interiors

36. Forging connections with imperceptable level changes

37. “ As CABE loves to say, good architecture comes from good clients and good briefs, and it comes from communication between clients, users & architects” Rowan Moore, The Observer 12 September 2010

38. Process & engagement

39. Process & engagement

40. WHY REMODEL? Building a new school means… … a loss of physical capital … a loss of cultural capital … and potentially risks creating as many problems as one solves

41. “ The story of the consumer society… being encouraged, persuaded, perhaps… to spend money we don’t have,… on things we don’t need,… to create impressions that won’t last,… Tim Jackson, Professor of Sustainable Development and Director of RESOLVE (RESearch group On Lifestyles, Values and the Environment)

42. “ The Cloisters” has realised the potential of the whole site, and reinforced the culture and identity of the school.” New from Old: Transforming Secondary Schools Through Refurbishment , CABE 2009 RIBA Award Winner 2009 BCSE Best Remodelled School 2009 Alternative RIBA Stirling Prize Shortlist 2009