Wandsworth Borough Council has granted planning for a state-of-the-art senior school on the former site of the Royal Academy of Dance in Battersea Square. The consented scheme extends the site’s existing buildings to include 26 new learning spaces, a double height hall, a sixth form centre, dining facilities and a large central atrium.
Thomas’s Battersea Square consists of a series of carefully articulated contemporary additions alongside a sensitive refurbishment of the historic fabric. The Granary building is retained and celebrated, forming the base on which to grow the innovative school. Extensions to the roof and side of the Granary building have been designed to emphasise and enhance the existing fabric whilst maintaining their own contemporary character. A new saw-tooth roofscape takes cues from the site’s industrial history whilst being detailed in a contemporary manner, picking up on the modern educational use of the building.
The school’s new entrance is a striking two storey glass connection between the existing Granary and Fonteyn buildings leading to a 20 m high internal atrium jutting through the centre of the plan. This atrium pays homage to the former lifting platforms which facilitated the movement of materials through the Granary, now providing circulation, dramatic daylighting and natural ventilation within the building to all the primary teaching spaces.
The atrium culminates on the ground floor in an open foyer with bleacher seating, creating a space of community and exchange, simulating a traditional forum through programme and presence,creating a space to promote informal interactions and activities. This vast ground floor circulation forms the heart of the building linking the learning spaces. By removing the existing car park, and re-landscaping the courtyard, the informal environment extends outdoors, allowing for student gatherings, public access and cycle provisions.
Thomas’s ethos and intention to create a ‘4D education building’ works in tandem with Ackroyd Lowrie’s innovative use of Virtual reality and immersive technology to test and develop the design at 1:1 scale. The design process relied heavily on the ability to immerse the clients in the space and have an ‘in person’ meeting, marking up changes in real-time to the virtual model, allowing for innovative architecture and bold spaces.
The new Thomas’s Battersea Square School is due to be completed by late 2022.