leckhampton, corpus christi / radegund hall, coleridge community college / sports hall, coleridge community college / rougham preschool / gislingham preschool / beccles preschool / thurston preschool / beehive school, malawi
The Rougham Acorns and Woodlands building stands on the site of an earlier temporary preschool building, associated with the village primary school. The new building provides both preschool education and "wraparound care" for children at the beginning and end of the school day.
The design was developed to demonstrate that a carefully designed, one-off building could, through carefully tailored design, offer better quality and value than a standard prefabricated solution. The very limited, fixed budget, the site and the desire to create an environmentally responsible building determined the building's form. In order to make the plan as efficient as possible there is no dedicated circulation - the ancillary spaces (entrance lobby, office, store, kitchen and toilets are arranged around the north and west sides of the single, large, bright play space. At each end are glazed screens that look out across generous covered terraces, providing both solar shading and a space for sheltered outdoor play.
