Client British School Muscat
Location Muscat, Oman
Status On site
In 2013 Jestico + Whiles won the international design competition to masterplan the 3.65 hectare campus of British School Muscat in the capital of Oman. A key part of the brief was to improve facilities and allow for an increased number of students from 1,050 to 1,250.
The school felt that its outstanding academic record was being let down by its facilities, and therefore decided to maximise the use of its existing site. The new facilities will give the school room to grow, with the extra facilities providing capacity to improve the breadth of subjects offered and improve the extended school amenities, such as its sports and performing arts provision.
Our approach was to improve the legibility of the site, and draw the accommodation together into a coherent arrangement of organisational zones.
Two brand new buildings have improved the quality of available teaching space at both the primary and the secondary sides of the school campus.
Despite the physical limitations of the sloping site, the design incorporates significant new teaching facilities, such as high-quality internal and external sports accommodation (in the form of a new 12-court sports centre and an under-16 FA standard artificial pitch) and an aquatics centre with a 25m competition standard pool, training and learner pools.
The project also comprises new science accommodation, a showcase performing arts centre with a 700-seat auditorium, a central dining hall and a state-of-the-art sixth-form centre.
