- Location Stamford Hill, London
- Client Mouchel Babcock Education
- Year 2013
- Status Completed
- Sectors: Education
Our design for a new school on a challenging site in Hackney incorporates airy, light-filled spaces arranged around a timber-clad chapel, positioned symbolically at the heart of the building.
Awards
NLA Awards - Finalist
- Location Stamford Hill, London
- Client Mouchel Babcock Education
- Year 2013
- Status Completed
Jestico + Whiles was appointed by Mouchel Babcock Education to design the new Our Lady’s Convent High School as part of phase two of the Hackney Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme. The school is a Roman Catholic voluntary-aided school under the trusteeship of the Servite Sisters, with specialist language college status.
Our design approach reconciled several challenging site constraints. Arranged across four storeys, with a rooftop multi-use games area positioned above the sports hall, the new building not only maximises external play space on a very small site, but also accommodates significant level changes across the site. We also facilitated a two-phase construction process, meeting the school’s decant requirements and minimising disruption.
Internally, the building incorporates wide corridors designed to improve circulation, and voids that bring natural light and fresh air into the heart of the building. The school’s chapel, clad in timber to highlight its significance, is symbolically located at the centre of the plan, on the axis of the two interlocking wings of building.