Intelligent construction
Innovative approaches to learning are changing the nature of educational buildings and in some cases demanding new approaches to construction.
Modern methods of construction (MMC) can unlock ways of developing the sort of awkward sites that occur when an institution grows over time, as well as telescoping the time spent on site to fit with holiday periods. MMC can also achieve significantly higher quality of finish than traditional methods, with benefits for maintenance and image. This goal informs all our work, and is especially applicable in educational buildings because it allows time on site to be reduced to a minimum, reduces defects and maintenance costs, and can raise quality without increasing cost. Shorter construction periods also reduce the inconvenience and impact of construction work on existing facilities.
This technology allowed us to make flexible teaching spaces for Birchwood High School on a leafy campus in Hertfordshire as well as a stacked series of classrooms for an adult education centre on an inner city site in Lewisham. We are developing these principles further in a new pre-cast concrete system that has the potential to reduce energy running costs by 75 per cent.
Our competition-winning design for Brunel University’s Faculty of Engineering and Design is an equally imaginative response for very different circumstances. Universities need large, flexible clear span spaces that can respond with agility to quickly changing teaching methods. The proposal is for a striking form which conveys the faculty’s innovative ethos and creates uplifting spaces for researchand teaching.