Fletcher Crane Architects' classroom block has a technical directness suited to its function, and a quiet theatricality that makes the workshop and its users appear like actors on a stage
Fletcher Crane Architects for Claremont Fan Court School Foundation
Contract value: Confidential
GIA: 1,600m²
This classroom block is on a Grade I listed estate. The route into the site follows a fall in the ground level, and the new building contrasts this with a strong horizontal roofline supported by a sober two-storey dark brick colonnade. Two floors of bright, well-equipped classrooms and laboratories are linked by top-lit broad passages, and a generous, double-height foyer space. The axial stair through the building may become a principal route into school as the masterplan develops, and the building’s upper level opens onto a terrace facing a workshop clad in expanded metal.
This building has a technical directness suited to its function, and a quiet theatricality in the way that its glazed wall makes the workshop and its machines and users appear almost like actors on a stage – a drama of making.
South East RIBA Regional Award 2022