Bell Phillips Architects' quietly urbane building culminates in the dramatic top floor library that creates a wonderful learning environment
Bell Phillips Architects for The Skinners’ School
Contract value: Confidential
GIA: 1,187m²
Bell Phillips Architects has chosen to create a quietly urbane building that speaks to the forms and materials of the red brick Victorian gothic revival buildings whilst mediating between the wider town and school life. It is L-shape in plan, with a tall gable at each end: one facing town, the other overlooking the playground. Simple geometric forms are softened by the gentle red brick, and enlivened by with a sawtooth brick motif, creating a play of light and shadow that echoes the surface decoration of its antecedents.
Inside it culminates in the dramatic top floor library with a timber-lined ceiling following the steep pitch of the roof. Flooded with natural light, this space creates a wonderful learning environment. The building responds to the relationships between the oldest buildings while reordering and enhancing the school campus.
South East RIBA Regional Award 2022
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