Marlborough Primary School is the product of an unusually convoluted planning negotiation. Dixon Jones won a competition to look at the redevelopment of two warehouse sites in Kensington & Chelsea known as The Clearings. These were to be luxury dwellings, maximising value for John Lewis.
As an alternative to the requirement for affordable housing, the local authority suggested that funding should be provided by the project to rebuild the adjacent and outdated primary school. The school could move temporarily across the road to occupy one of the warehouse buildings. The school site could thus be cleared and a new building constructed with the minimum of inconvenience.
Other challenges were to double the school in size from single to two form entry, and to develop part of the site to provide income for Kensington & Chelsea.
Primary schools tend to be likeable organisations. They serve the community in a sympathetic way. As a result, they are engaging projects for architects to undertake. The accommodation has that attractive mixture provided by the combination of repetitive and more particular one-off spaces.
The new building has had to respond to the challenge of providing suitable external areas. The site had some simple constraints. At one end, adjacent windows to a 10-storey apartment block defined a light angle requirement within which development could not take place. At the other end there was a blank party wall against which development was possible.
Following the discipline of light angles, a series of cascading terraces give external space adjacent to classrooms. This stepped section creates the possibility of larger spaces underneath – a general multi-use area and a more traditional hall/dining space.
Each level becomes the home base for a particular age group, starting with the youngest at ground level and ending up with the most senior pupils at the top. Classrooms are located adjacent to external spaces and grouped around shared resource areas. The landscaping of the terraces is designed to reflect aspects of the teaching requirements of each year group.
The internal circulation has wide corridors that lead directly to classrooms and connect to the two main staircases, each with windows looking out to the adjacent streets – you always know where you are. The multi-use area becomes a focus for the school community. With its stepped access to raised surrounding circulation, it creates a theatrical relationship between activities in the multi-use area and general movement around the school. Two light wells bring daylight down through the section to ground level.
The school has a self-contained Autism Centre and a specifically designed Dance Studio. Adjacent to the ‘MUGA’ rooftop games area is an art studio that can duplicate as a sports social area. The school building serves the surrounding community: the Ballet Studio is used by the Royal Ballet for rehearsals, and the MUGA provides facilities for local five-a-side football matches.