Cromer Road School

Completed while working at IA. The school had a series of 10 year old 'temporary' classrooms that were all in various levels of decline that urgently needed a solution for the school to function.  We looked at multiple options, including refurbishment, extension and demolition. It was decided to proceed with 8 new classrooms with a new playground and landscaped grass meadow. On a very limited ESFA budget, we took design cues from the existing Edwardian brick school hall to bring Rhythm, Repetition and Shadow to the new classrooms.  Overheating is a major problem in classrooms, as a result we opted to orientate all the rooms north towards the wood. This decision presented us with the opportunity to bring an Edwardian brick texture to the northern facade and deep angled window reveals to.

The new building has replaced the damp, dark and hot teaching conditions with new bright, light and naturally ventilated classrooms. The new thermally efficient envelope has lead to lower heating bills allowing the school to focus their funds on teaching materials.