Learning

Armadale Academy

Brief
The Clients' requirement was for the design and construction of a new school to accommodate twelve hundred pupils on the edge of the small town of Armadale. The existing school occupying the same site provides for approximately eight hundred pupils, however the new facility increased this capacity primarily due to future expansion of residential developments on neighbouring land.
Response
The new school is situated at the top of the site and is very exposed to the elements. Our design solution was a direct response to this and resulted in accommodation formed around a tight courtyard, providing a sheltered outdoor space for pupils. The courtyard is an extension of the main internal social and dining space at the heart of the building and the timber clad library projects into the courtyard at first floor level as its main focal point.

Three classroom wings are wrapped around the courtyard increasing the sense of enclosure and the main social spaces also act as a buffer between the classrooms and the more noisy activities within the school such as the sports accommodation, assembly and music spaces.
Outcome
As the new school sits approximately twelve metres above street level at the rear of the site, an integrated landscape strategy minimises the impact of the tiered car parking provided. Developed in conjunction with an ecologist, the landscaping takes further advantage of the site levels by the positioning of a viewing platform that offers views over the sports pitches.

The school was completed in the summer of 2009 with phase two site works following transfer of pupils to the new school. It is intended that the school will form the catalyst for a new housing development being planned on the green spaces surrounding the site.

Team