The Ritblat Building, Hilden Grange Prep School, Tonbridge

The Ritblat Building, Hilden Grange Preparatory School, Tonbridge
Hawkins\Brown for Alpha Plus Group
Contract £4.1m. GIA 1473m²

This is a packed lunch of a building. Two classroom wings sandwich a playground and, below that, a sunken canteen and assembly space. Both wings are constructed in cross laminated timber panels, which are exposed internally. But from the outside they look very different: one pitched with timber shingles to wall and roof, the other an angled grass roof with vertical timber boarding. Keeping the horizontal circulation under cover outside helps animate the space with use.