News: well-designed classrooms can improve the academic performance of primary school pupils by 25 percent according to a new study undertaken by the University of Salford and UK architects Nightingale Associates.

The year-long study assessed seven schools in Blackpool, where researchers surveyed pupils about age, gender and performance in maths, reading and writing. They also evaluated classroom environments by measuring factors such as natural light, noise levels, temperature, air quality and classroom orientation, before comparing the two sets of data.

"It has long been known that various aspects of the built environment impact on people in buildings, but this is the first time a holistic assessment has been made that successfully links the overall impact directly to learning rates in schools," said Peter Barrett, a professor at the University of Salford. "The impact identified is in fact greater than we imagined."

Caroline Paradise of Nightingale Associates' research arm THiNK added: "This will support designers and educators in targeting investment in school buildings to where it will have the most impact, whether new build or refurbishment."

Above: Mossbourne Community Academy by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, photographed by Mark Burton

Architects are using the study to argue against the recent restrictions enforced by the UK government on the design of new school buildings, including a ban on curved or glass walls and the addition of standard room sizes. Architect Richard Rogers commented: "This study confirms what our practice, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, has long believed: good design has the potential to have a truly positive effect on the way children learn."

Describing his firm's design for Mossbourne Community Academy in Hackney (pictured), he added: "Mossbourne is a striking piece of evidence; high in the league tables and with staff and pupils commenting enthusiastically about the impact of the school’s careful design. We proved that it is possible to produce a well-designed school collaboratively with the senior teaching staff which adheres to a tight budget. I hope that the government takes note of this report for the sake of the next generation."

Above: Mossbourne Community Academy by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, photographed by Mark Burton

However, Education secretary Michael Gove has dismissed the significance of the study and is pushing ahead with plans to build 261 primary and secondary schools using the new 'baseline' templates. A spokeswoman from the department for education said: "There is no convincing evidence that spending enormous sums of money on school buildings leads to increased attainment. An excellent curriculum, great leadership and inspirational teaching are the keys to driving up standards."

She continued: "The standard school designs for the Priority Schools Building Programme will provide light, bright and airy learning environments for pupils and were drawn up jointly with architects and teaching experts to make the very best use of space."

Above: Mossbourne Community Academy by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, photographed by Mark Burton

Gove, who spearheaded the plans for standardised templates, previously claimed that architects were "creaming off cash" for school design. In a conference last year he said: "We won't be getting Richard Rogers to design your school, we won't be getting any award-winning architects to design it, because no one in this room is here to make architects richer."

The new government guidelines came into force on 31 October and the Royal Institute of British Architects voiced concerns that the proposed 'flat pack' approach will "deprive students and teachers of quality environments that are proven to support teaching and learning". Meanwhile, London studio Aberrant Architecture claimed that the UK should look to Brazil as an example for quality school building programmes and Nicholas Hare Architects' partner Paul Baxter told Dezeen: "It is important that the lessons about school design that architects have learned over the last few years should not be wasted," following his firm's completion of a secondary school with walls of yellow brick, bronzed aluminium and unfinished timber.

The full results of the survey have been published here and the researchers plan to continue their studies for a further 18 months, covering 20 more schools in different parts of the UK.

Gove's department also plans to remove design and other creative subjects from the school curriculum, a move branded “short-sighted insanity” by incoming D&AD president Neville Brody and the subject of a campaign by over 150 UK designers, brands and organisations including Apple's Jonathan Ive and fashion designer Stella McCartney.

Find out more about the new standardised school templates in our earlier story, see all our stories about UK school design.

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Located in the small community of Canvey Island, the Cornelius Vermuyden School comprises a collection of new and refurbished buildings that were designed to be respectful of their surrounding residential context.

"The palette of materials reflects not only the pragmatic requirements of the school for a robust, easily maintained building that will age gracefully, but also for a building that has a grown-up feel and is appropriate to its Canvey context," said Nicholas Hare Architects' partner Paul Baxter. "We specifically avoided using primary colours that would have been inappropriate."

The building is split into five wings, including an existing gym and hall block that the architects have converted into an art and design facility with double-height workshops.

The main entrance to the school is sandwiched between two wings, including a library and computer room with bronze-anodised aluminium walls and a glazed facade that reveals its interior to visitors.

Perforated aluminium panels also cover the walls of some of the brick buildings. "The perforated anodised panels have allowed us to incorporate artwork and signage in the cladding in a subtle and distinctive way," explained Baxter.

Beyond the entrance, a two-storey indoor street spans the length of the school to connect each of the departments and provide dining areas, meeting areas and exhibition spaces.

"The central street is designed as a two-storey art gallery for the display of the exceptional two and three-dimensional artwork of the students," Baxter told Dezeen. "It is also anticipated that the gallery could be used on occasion as a public gallery showing external exhibitions, thereby drawing the local community into the school and providing a much needed cultural asset for the island."

The sports hall is also located beside the entrance and sits half a metre higher than the other buildings of the school. "Canvey Island has a history of catastrophic flooding, and despite its sea wall the brief required the sports hall to be able to act as refuge in case of flooding across the island," added Baxter.

The school was completed earlier this year, a few months before the UK government released guidelines banning glass walls and restricting room sizes and building shapes. Baxter told Dezeen that these guidelines shouldn't prevent architects from creating schools like Cornelius Vermuyden.

"It is right that the complex, lengthy and expensive procurement process should, in the current economic climate, be considerably slimmed down. It is important, however, that the lessons about school design that architects have learned over the last few years should not be wasted. [...] A modest amount of generosity in the allocation of space can provide a multitude of educational and behavioural benefits," he said.

Other UK schools we've featured include the Stirling Prize-winning Evelyn Grace Academy by Zaha Hadid and a school with a shiny copper chapel, also by Nicholas Hare Architects.

See all our stories about UK schools »

Photography is by Jim Stephenson.

Here's some more information from Nicholas Hare Architects:

Cornelius Vermuyden School and Arts College by Nicholas Hare Architects LLP
Dinant Avenue, Canvey Island, Essex SS8 9QS

Cornelius Vermuyden School was designed by Nicholas Hare Architects as a sample school in Skanska’s winning bid for the Essex’s Building Schools for the Future programme. The school was completed in three phases and was officially opened in July 2012. In addition to providing learning facilities that are second-to-none, it is intended that the new school should be a catalyst for a wider regeneration of Canvey Island as a whole.

Above: ground floor plan - click above for larger image

With a school roll of 900 11-16 year olds the school is predominantly new-build, but includes a retained gym and hall block that were reinvented as a centre for design technology and art.

Above: first floor plan - click above for larger image

Located at the end of a cul-de-sac, the two-storey school needed to announce its presence as a place for learning and a vibrant community facility. The welcoming form of its approach, framed by the fully-glazed library on one side and the sports hall on the other, embraces a richly landscaped plaza and a central internal ‘street’ with a first floor gallery links the teaching clusters, hall, library and other parts of the school.

Above: section A-A - click above for larger image

The street widens and narrows along its length to create ‘eddy’ spaces off the main circulation for entrance, dining, meeting and group work and light penetrates the space from courtyards to the east and west.

Above: section B-B - click above for larger image

A restrained yet robust palette of materials has been used, including a yellow stock brick, bronze-anodized aluminium and untreated timber. The aluminium cladding to the sports hall was perforated to create a subtle super-graphic and further artwork was integrated into the landscape.

Above: south elevation - click above for larger image

Start On Site Date: 10.05.2010
Date Of Completion: 17.02.2012
Gross Internal Floor Area (M2): 8061 sq m
Total Cost: £17.5m

Above: east elevation - click above for larger image

Client: Skanska
Structural Engineer: Arup
Services Engineer: Hbs/Cpw
Quantity Surveyor: Skanska
Planning Supervisor: Collins Coward
Main Contractor: Skanska

Above: north elevation - click above for larger image

Landscape: Grant Associates
Education Consultant: Key Education
Furniture Supplier: Isis Concepts
Approved Inspector Services: Hcd Group
Joinery Subcontractor: Houston Cox
Steel Frame Subcontractor: Bourne Construction Engineering
Curtain Walling & Windows: Colorminium
Cladding: Downer Façade Solutions

Above: west elevation - click above for larger image

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by Nicholas Hare Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

News: following this week's news that the UK government is restricting curved and glass walls on new school buildings, Aberrant Architecture's Kevin Haley and David Chambers are urging the Department of Education to look to the standardised schools designed by Oscar Niemeyer for Brazil in the 1980s, which the architects are presenting in the British Pavilion for the Venice Architecture Biennale.

"Learning lessons from school-building in Brazil helps us develop the new ideas that are sorely needed to improve the design and production of school buildings in the UK," said Chambers, while Haley explained how the pair are "using the research we have collected to investigate the design potential for a similar approach for the UK."

The standardised ‘baseline’ templates for primary and secondary schools published this week place restrictions on room sizes, storey heights and building shapes for 261 replacement school buildings planned across the UK, as part of a bid to cut costs.

In response Haley has said: "In Brazil, the design of the 508 Integrated Centres of Public Education (CIEPs) was not simply standardised to reduce costs. The highly ambitious design, shared by each school, induces a global perception of a standard, a new standard - a standard of high quality."

Above: Animating Education at the British Pavilion

Like Brazil's CIEPs, Haley proposes that the UK should "allow our schools to become more open to their context" and suggests that "each region could create its own standardised design, incorporating local cultural and climatic requirements."

"The idea that every community, from suburb to favela, can take pride in first-class architecture, giving every child the same opportunities, is certainly a compelling ideal, especially today, when modern society in Brazil, as well as increasingly in the UK, is more and more divided between rich and poor," said Haley.

Above: Animating Education at the British Pavilion

Aberrant Architecture's initial research is documented in their exhibition "Animating Education" at the biennale, where they are showing models to represent each of the CIEPs completed in Brazil.

Read more about the government restrictions in our earlier story.

See more stories about Aberrant Architecture »

Here's the full statement from Kevin Haley:

The pressing need in the UK to build new primary schools to address overcrowded classrooms and growing competition for school places thus begs the question: what lessons can we learn from the CIEPs example? Which of the ideas championed by Brazil should we adopt and which ideas can we build upon?

Above: Animating Education at the British Pavilion

In the 1980s, Rio de Janeiro, much like the UK now, had limited money to spend on education. In response to this, Oscar Niemeyer put forward a standardized design for the CIEPs. The strong design of his principle educational building, prefabricated to ensure consistent quality, contained architectural spaces, using strong durable materials that were specifically designed to support, help and enhance the educational curriculum. Architectural additions such as the dedicated sports hall, library, canteen & rooftop housing spaces, supported and enhanced the recreational, cultural, nutritional & residential aspects of the full time program. These standardised elements could be arranged in multiple configurations in order to respond to varying site conditions.

Money saved through standardisation could subsequently be invested into the curriculum. Schools could offer a full time curriculum available from 7am – 10pm. CIEP programs not only respected students’ cultures but also enhanced them. Some subjects were not taught if they were not beneficial to the class of children. Other subjects were therefore introduced, creating a personalised curriculum. Such an idea could no doubt also be used to address the increasingly culturally diverse communities of the UK.

The full time curriculum helped working parents avoid expensive childcare, a very pertinent problem in the UK today. It also gave those from poorer backgrounds access to a wider range of cultural stimuli. Three meals a day, designed by a nutritionist, helped the diets of some of the undernourished children. It could be argued that childhood obesity, rather than undernourishment, is the problem in the UK. But in any case, being offered the option of three healthy meals a day would no doubt make a huge difference in a lot of cases.

Above: Animating Education at the British Pavilion

Each region of the UK could create its own standardised design, incorporating local cultural and climatic requirements. The constant would be the full time education and the commitment to taking care of the children’s individual needs.

In Brazil, it was put to us that the design of the 508 CIEPs was not simply standardized to reduce costs. The highly ambitious design, shared by each school, induces a global perception of a standard, a new standard - a standard of high quality. The high architectural standard on the outside subsequently encourages a perception of high quality education on the inside. The idea that every community, from suburb to favela, can take pride in first-class architecture, giving every child the same opportunities, is certainly a compelling ideal – especially today, when modern society in Brazil, as well as increasingly in the UK, is more and more divided between rich and poor.

Whilst we understand the arguments for standardisation of the CIEPs it would be interesting to see how you could adjust the model school a little bit more, to better suit each individual site. Perhaps this can be achieved by starting with the CIEP model of having a main classroom block and regular CIEP accessories, such as the sports hall, library building or swimming pool, and then being able to add to or change some of these accessories later on.

Above: Animating Education at the British Pavilion

A very interesting strategy would be to allow our schools to become more open to their context. Perhaps these new accessories could create additional openness between the school and its surroundings, placing the School in the context of its neighbourhood rather than as some kind of alien visitor.

Take a covered playground as an example, a more strategic solution could be if it worked more as a city square and brought more people into the schools. This idea starts to become interesting in the UK context because this space could fill the role of a public square, which is often non-existent in many British suburbs.

Since the school is arguably the most important public building in our communities it could start to provide more functions related for the common use. School accessories could include an ‘IT room’ as well as a multi-purpose arts and culture building, which could then be used for theatre, dance and martial arts, as well as provide a space for filming and editing movies. Such a space would not only appeal to the students but also to their parents as well.

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in Brazil" - Aberrant Architecture appeared first on Dezeen.

News: there will be no curved or glass walls on any new school buildings constructed in the UK, thanks to a set of government guidelines released this week.

Above and top: Evelyn Grace Academy by Zaha Hadid Architects - photos by Luke Hayes

As part of a bid to standardise school design and cut costs, the 'baseline' templates place restrictions on room sizes, storey heights and building shapes for 261 replacement school buildings planned across the country.

The reports call for "simple, orthogonal forms" with "no curves or ‘faceted’ curves" and having "minimal indents, ‘dog legs’ and notches in the plan shapes". They also state that buildings should have "no glazed curtain walling or ETFE roofs".

Above: The Langley Academy by Foster + Partners - photo by Nigel Young

These restrictions will put an end to designs such as the curved timber Langley Academy by Foster + Partners (above) and Zaha Hadid's zig-zagging steel and glass Evelyn Grace Academy (top), which was awarded the Stirling Prize last year by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

These projects have been criticised for being too costly by education secretary Michael Gove, who in a conference last year said: "We won't be getting Richard Rogers to design your school, we won't be getting any award-winning architects to design it, because no one in this room is here to make architects richer."

Above: Clapham Manor Primary School by dRMM - photo by Jonas Lencer

In response to the reports, the RIBA has raised its concerns, claiming that "the proposed ‘flat pack’ approach is inflexible and will deprive students and teachers of quality environments that are proven to support teaching and learning".

"In these times of austerity of course we need to cut our cloth on all spending, however the government’s proposals for the design and construction of future schools are far too restrictive with too much focus on short term savings," said RIBA president Angela Brady.

Above: All Saints’ Academy by Nicholas Hare Architects - photo by Hufton + Crow

Here's a press release from the RIBA listing its key concerns:

The RIBA five key concerns over the Governments approach to ‘Baseline Design’ are:

1. A failure to create functional spaces for excellent teaching

The RIBA is concerned that a ‘one size fits all’ approach will place a straitjacket on future generations of teaching professionals and quickly render these schools redundant in the light of developments in pedagogy and technology.

2. Not ensuring discipline and student wellbeing

The minimal circulation spaces have the potential for serious congestion, with the consequential impact on behaviour and wellbeing. The designs for secondary schools include narrow corridors and concealed stairs that are difficult to supervise; in many schools this is likely to result in the need for additional staff supervision to maintain good behaviour and avoid bullying. For example, in Guildford’s new Christ’s College school by DSDHA architects, the corridors were designed to eradicate bad behavior and isolation which was prevalent in the school’s previous 1960s building; the new circulation spaces are compact and easy to monitor; and since moving to its new building, Christ’s College has been named as one of the country’s most improved schools.

3. Ignoring the safeguarding of environmental comfort

The low energy environmental strategy is welcomed but the success of the layout is predicated on optimal conditions that may be difficult to achieve in reality. Relatively minor changes in orientation, internal finishes, or structural systems will significantly affect lighting, ventilation, heat gain and acoustics, which will in turn negatively impact on teaching and learning; eg well-ventilated and well-lit classrooms are crucial to aiding and extending student concentration.

4. Disregarding statutory requirements for accessibility and inclusion

The RIBA has serious reservations about the ability of the baseline designs to accommodate students and staff with disabilities and in general to meet statutory access requirements.

5. Not delivering long-term sustainability and value

The lack of engagement between sufficiently experienced design teams, educationalists and end users risks these minimum requirements being delivered without consideration of the particular needs of each school community. If the baseline designs are not developed appropriately to meet the teaching and operational needs of every school they may not be fit for purpose and therefore will not deliver the value for money solutions that the government intends.

While the RIBA continues to welcome the Government's objectives of achieving increased value for money and identifying ways to rationalize the complex process of design and construction, the Institute is calling on the following improvements to be made the 'Baseline Design' proposals:

» School designs are subjected to independent review by recognised local education practitioners and school leaders to establish their ability to support excellent teaching and meet future community needs.

» The development of the baseline designs take full account of the statutory requirements for access and the current guidance on designing for students and staff with physical impairments and other disabilities, including sensory and other ‘invisible’ impairments;

» The Environmental strategy be subjected to rigorous testing using a range of structural solutions and finishes;

» Designs are tested against a variety of ‘real life’ site situations in order to establish their viability before their final release;

» EFA clarifies which parts of the baseline design are intended to be indicative or recommended as opposed to mandatory;

» The output specification is developed in sufficient detail in order to safeguard functionality and prevent the erosion of design quality in the tender process;

» Clients and schools receive expert advice from qualified and experienced design professionals on the quality and functionality of any contractor’s proposals using the baseline design.

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A shiny copper chapel hovers above the entrance to this Catholic school in Gloucestershire, England, by London studio Nicholas Hare Architects.

The academy accommodates a secondary school and a sixth form college, both accessed through a curved atrium with a three-storey-high glazed facade.

A winding staircase connects the ground floor reception with two overlooking galleries, which stretch along the length of the atrium and lead to classrooms in three branching wings.

Each floor features walls painted in a different colour to help students and visitors get to know their way around.

Academies are a new kind of state-maintained but independently-run school in the UK - check out the Zaha Hadid-designed academy in south London that won the Stirling Prize last year.

Photography is by Hufton + Crow.

Here's some more information from Nicholas Hare Architects:

All Saints' Academy is a church school for the community. The academy is sponsored by the Clifton RC Diocese and the Gloucester C of E Diocese. It provides secondary education for 900 pupils and 250 sixth formers.

The heart of the new building is its entrance atrium. The glazed atrium forms a focus for community activity. Its vibrant space is dominated by a sculptural stair which links the curved galleries at each level.

The copper-clad form of the chapel stands at one end, above the entrance.

The learning resource centre, assembly hall and dining area are all reached directly from the atrium.

The galleries lead to three radiating learning wings providing most of the classroom accommodation.

Staff spaces are placed along the galleries so that they form a threshold to the more private learning wings.

At ground level large windows provide views into the wings of display areas for the celebration of students’ work.

Externally, the areas around the building provide many opportunities that encourage outdoor learning.

Click above for larger image

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Nicholas Hare Architects appeared first on Dezeen.