The curriculum for secondary education and the ways in which it is being delivered are undergoing considerable change.
In response the ‘traditional’ design of a school is beginning to transform, as specialised teaching spaces and classrooms, within a set day and curriculum accommodated at a school site, shift towards multi-purpose spaces, with flexible timetables and individual learning plans accommodated at multiple locations.
Our practices first major project in the field, the 1200 pupil Rathmore Grammar School, commissioned in 1997, has been described in the local architectural press as having established a new standard for school buildings in Northern Ireland.
Whilst its plan arrangement was directed by the prescriptive guidelines of the Department of Education Building Handbook, through developing aresponse driven by the headmistresses aspirations, the schools ethos, and the woodland enclosure that the school sits within, a distinct sense of place is established.
Our workload in the sector continues to expand and we are now actively engaged in a number of projects throughout Ireland. Most interestingly we are working with the Belfast Schools Partnership on a proposal for Ashfield Girls School in East Belfast, that strives to respond to the new ways of learning agenda.
The school itself embraces the concept, having recently received specialist IT status. Teaching accommodation arranged around a central street (accommodating a sunken multi-purpose area and dining accommodation at ground floor level, with open galleries to classrooms above), seeks to introduce the schools desired flexibility whilst having a real feeling of community and inspirational learning environment.