- Architecture
- Masterplanning
- Urban Design
- Landscape Architecture
- Interior Design
- Town Planning
- Project Management
- Environmental Services
St Vincent's School
Date: 2001
New Primary School
Client: Governors of St Vincent’s School
Set in Mill Hill’s conservation area, on a south-facing slope in green belt land, PRP’s design for St Vincent’s 1½ FE School appears as a cluster of small buildings, following the slope of the land and blending unobtrusively into the woodland backdrop.
Central to the design is a protected courtyard which provides a valuable and attractive external teaching and play space and shelters the children from the elements. Designed to child scale, St. Vincent’s is organised into two wings for Key Stages 1 and 2. The south-facing elevations are provided with brise soleil to shade classrooms whilst north-facing clerestory windows allow light deep into the space. The large sliding doors and high level windows provide a controllable cross ventilation system, which together with the under floor heating system, produces a conducive learning environment.
An early years unit has also been provided with separate and protected play areas sheltered by the surrounding building and trees.
The overall effect is a design which is sympathetic and responsive to the school’s needs but which respects the surrounding conservation area.