The last school building for this study is a city Technology of College rather than a Primary School. This building was designed by Fielden Clegg Design, Bath and started in May 1992 and was completed in July 1993. The original idea was to build links with the commercial world that would help not only to finance the school’s construction but also to enhance the way in which scientific subjects were taught.A 20% private funding was to be found in each case: at John Cabot the sponsors are Castle & Wireless and the Wolfson Foundation, the second is a charitable foundation without specific bias.
The Fielden Clegg design was the winner of a limited competition.It is mainly a two-storey building and an existing orchard has been retained and forms a new grass amphitheatre.In a crescent-shaped block housing central facilities such as the library, administration and seminar room.
Just behind this is a covered internal passway which connects the assembly hall at one end of the hall and the sports hall at the other.The teaching areas or classrooms are located at the south side of the internal passways to encourage daylighting.John Cabot had some problems with the brief, which remained uncertain until very late in the programme.It was decided to adopt a fast track management approach and John Cabot states:
It was decided to adopt a more conventional relationship, using the Jct.1980 Contract with quantities.JTC 80 does not seem to give you more control than in management contracting, says Project Architect Andy Couling.Although the majority of the labour force here is sub-contracted, the fact that the main contractor takes responsibility for the work as well as for the process comes through in the quality of the construction work – John Cabot A.J. (1).
The site of this school was originally occupied by an approved school, but long before that, it used to be a coalmine.Due to this, the foundations needed special measures, which included capping mineshafts, which were funnily enough found on the side.A network of ground beams were cast and all the voids found by these beams were vented to the outside air to prevent any build-up of methane gas. The structure of the building is a steel frame, clad in cavity brickwork and it falls into four parts: the assembly and sports halls at each end, the crescent block, the classroom wing and the internal pathway. (Figs. 22 & 23).The roof structure towards the wings and halls is constructed in profiled steel, and towards the crescent is in terne-coated stainless steel and to the pathway street high-performance felt on timber decking.(Figs. 24 & 25).
Block works were used internally with plastered walls apart from the two halls.Screeds are 75 mm thick with reinforcement, unbounded due to damp-proof membranes at ground floor level and Ethafoam acoustic absorbent on first floor slabs.
Fielden Clegg, the designer, was faced with the challenge and positively being encouraged by the client to invest the building with a measure of “legibility” as a visual aid for pupils. Clegg met this challenge symbolically, reflecting the idea that legibility does not necessarily mean exposing every last bolt or wind-brace in the building.The roof is supported by means of cylindrical columns that remain exposed and therefore “legible” while the first floor slab, cast on permanent, profiled steel from work, is held by I-section stanchions, which is “illegible” because it is built into the wall structure.
The system, says Couling: –
has allowed us to control what it looks like from underneath, but without hiding the root structure.AJ (2).
In contrary to other common school buildings, Fielden Clegg felt that the degree of flexibility required in the teaching wing did not call for partitions; instead, blockwork walls are used as structure divisions.The reasons he gave were that the frequency with which walls are likely to be moved is not sufficient to justify instant demountability while acoustic separation and durability are not so easily achieved with partitions.This school was specifically explicitly designed as a low-energy building, the section of the classroom wings was derived as a result of the desire to maximise the use of natural light and ventilation.On the first floor where a central corridor is flanked by classrooms of various kinds, a continuous rooflight and louvred air vent alternately lights and vents the classrooms.In every three way structural bays there is a ventilation shaft, which connects one of the ground floor spaces directly with the ventilation louvres.In the whole building, three rooms have “comfort cooling provision”, a form of partial air-conditioning.The telecommunications room, the network manager’s office and the seminar room are the three rooms, whereas the average school would not consider air treatment to be a priority in this sort of space.Specifications are higher in the business sector and air conditioning was judged to be a necessity.
The first thing that catches the attention on visiting the building is the curve of the crescent block and as the Project Architect points out: –
The trick with such building is to define which elements follow the curve literally and which works better split into facets.The question is one of balance between architectural expression and practical expediency – Couling (3).
The window frames are faceted because of the complications created by curving the aluminium frames. There is no inner column on the first floor, the brickwork is also faceted at this level in order to follow the window frames.The clerestory windows are faceted and the stud partitions below are curved with radius of about 47 metres.The architect hoped it had achieved its aim of designing a building that is architecturally interesting, environmentally appropriate, robust and practical.This school building has the combination of modern hi-tech and natural low energy systems and as Couling states: –
With its building management system, condensing boilers, general insulation, natural lighting and ventilation systems, it will be interesting to see how well its energy performance compares with other schools in the UK – Couling (4).
In response to the daylighting quality (Fig. 20) the maximum daylight is achieved from the glazed rooflight in the classroom wing. And since the classrooms are on the first floor, hence the rooflight, it would be a permanent space in order to achieve this lighting quality, unlike other school buildings where the interchanging of rooms are encouraged.Although cylindrical columns that remain exposed as mentioned earlier support the classroom wings roofs, the first floor is supported by a separate structure, which was concealed.
Energy and Building Statistics:
The design annual energy consumption in primary energy units is 173 Kwh/m2.This can be compared with the 1981 Department for Education Design Note 17 required maximum of 240 Kwh/m2.
U-values are much lower than the current Building Regulations Standards:-
Regs. | Actual | % Improvements | ||
Walls | 0.45 |
0.32 | 40% | |
Roofs | 0.45 | 0.30 | 50% | |
Ground Slab | 0.45 | 0.45 |
Calculated annual energy consumption value in primary energy units = 173 Kwh/m2
Gross Floor Area-8720m2 excluding unheated
Sports Store -50m2
Teaching Area- 4330m2
Number of Pupil Places- 900
Building Net Cost (BNC)- £5,242,946 excluding external works
External Works- £781,641
Base Date -4th Quarter 1992
BNC/Gross Floor Area- £601,26/m2
Complete in 1993-(5)
Client -John Cabot CTC Bristol Trust Ltd
Architect -Fielden Clegg Design, Bath
Quantity Surveyor-BHQs, Bath
Structural/Services Engr.-Buro Happold, Bath
Main Contractor-Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd. (5)
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