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Initial Ideas. April 2011.
We have now delivered four sessions in school getting to
know some of the staff and students at Witton Park and
Newfields.
We have been briefed by the design team and the LEP. We always start with a theme around which ideas are
developed.
We have identified 6 possible themes and chosen one which
we have developed further.
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1. Navigation
Possible Questions
How can there be an element of exploration retained in a new schoolbuilding?
How can creativity enhance the way that a building is read, understood
and explored? How can navigating a school building link to navigation through life beyond
the perimeter fence?
Possible Answers
Working with colour , texture and sound to map the building.
Introducing meandering planting schemes,
Taking lines for a walk
Prototyping spaces
Using creative signposting approaches
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2.GrowthPossible Questions
How can we illustrate the notion of progression through an educationalsystem into the world beyond?
Can we see pupils as they arrive in the school as seedlings though to saplingsand then fully matured trees for harvesting fruits?
Can we link these notions to aspirations, to the world beyond school?
Possible Answers
Explore alumini and homespun talent, illustrate and include theirachievements in the fabric of the building. Create hall of fame.
Consider elements of actual growth, hydroponics, winter gardens, miniaturesuspended hanging gardens green perimeter fence.
Create a telescope to the future, a video installation? Incorporate a crystalball?
A student planting scheme, each tree engraved with a future wish. Signpost to the future.
Using seed, sapling , tree imagery as printed motifs and surface design.
Incorporate a future wish board
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3.Inside Out School
Possible Questions
How can we bring the school into the landscape and the landscape into
the school?
Possible Answers
By incorporating periscopes and telescopes from the landscape into the
school and vica versa.
By taking classrooms outside and incorporating the furniture as part of the
landscape.
By creating imaginative and ambitious indoor planting schemes and
framing vistas into the external landscape.
By considering communication between the indoors and the outside
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4.School As The 3rd Teacher
Possible Questions How can the design of the school directly incorporate learning?
Possible Answers
Externalise all environmental measures, show electrical meters etc.
Incorporate rulers and measurements around door frames and otherarchitectural features.
Seek out information about the materials, where have them come from howwhere they procured, who installed them, include details on etched labels.
Create pods with a variety of materials to help bring subjects to life, lensesand optics for science as well as panels of different materials.
Interview subject teachers to explore what really excites them about theirsubjeccts-develop answers into interventions.
Work with the community to explore what did they like most about school,what do they remeber learning the most-incorperate answres directly.
Create intersting dipslay areas at every oppoutunity to externalise as much ofthe teaching as possible.
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5. Society
Possible Questions
What does a code of conduct that would support a healthy community in
the school and beyond look like?
How can we promote respect?
Possible Answers
Can we build a wisdom exchange?
Can we incorporate ideas and answers through the building, possible as
anamorphic images.
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6.The School as Theatre
Possible Questions How can we frame the natural theatre of the school?
How can we make the staff and students into the art?
How can we celebrate the natural ecosystem of the school and the daily
life of a school?
How can we create opportunities for constant appropriation and changeso that the school can change with every new set of pupils?
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We propose that the entrance should promote a sense of arrival withinstaff , students and visitors.
We want to create a sense of having stepped onto a stage (metaphorically
speaking) and to create an atmosphere of importance as each individual
enters the building.
We also want to create something that is unique for Witton park, that hascharacter and charisma and sets the school apart from any other school or
corporate building.
1.Entrance
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Use of a strong colour for the entrance area to create a theatrical statement and a sense of
arrival. A deep red has been chosen for its intensity, boldness and to resonate with the colour of
theatre curtains and to suggest the concept of stepping up onto a stage.
The red could be achieved on the existing structure, or as a extended cube from the main
building. The glazing could use red vinyl or screen printing.
Entrance Colour
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Use of graduating colour to create a focal point and to help extend the
importance of the entrance to the of the building.
It helps to anticipate the sense of arrival and to build upon the theatrical
colour statement.
Entrance Colour
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We initially considered the use of a strong spotlight to suggest a sense of
stepping up onto a stage.
Entrance Spotlight
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Realising that a spotlight was mainly dependant on the school being used
at night-time we replaced the idea of a spotlight with a large arrow.
This is based on the idea of making the entrance legible but it is also a play
on the notion of
Options for realising this include screen printed on the glass behind,
chandelier behind the glazed elevation or a suspended sculpture form the
soffit.
Entrance Arrow
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Entrance Arrow
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Entrance Interior Colour
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Functional Seating Platforms
It would make a unique contribution to the building to design and installindividual seating/play/storage conglomerates.
These could be equally as robust as individual items but provide a much
more and interactive solution to seating , working and storage.
We envisage these platforms as miniature stage sets. Platforms on which
the natural theatre of the school will unfold.
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3. Pods
We would like to propose that each pod becomes an interactivestorage/display area .
This would ensure that they are constantly changing and can be
personalised by ever changing groups of students.
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Art Pod The art pod would be an ever changing gallery and seating area
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Stem Pod, lenses, optics, glass vessels
Incorporating the use of
lenses or other optics to
animate the wall and allow
glimpses of the internal
activity.
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The Fresnel Lens.
Used to frame distorted views between
The main circulation and science hub.
Prisms.A series of prisms used as a screen to
The hub interior.
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4.Mirrors
Mirrors are interactive and fun.
They are always well received by students and they are forever changing
with the activity of the building and the time of day.
They would make a relatively cheap intervention within one or more
corridor spaces and may be useful for darker spots.
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5.Signposts
Signposts could also make for intriguing and interactive interventions thatcould be detailed with the staff and students.
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6. Message Board
We propose that a simple LED display could be used to greet staff and
students a happy birthday or to celebrate achievements.
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7.Living Painting
Is there a way to collect information about the day and turn it into aconstantly changing living painting?
Information of interest....how the students grade the interest if a lesson,
how the staff grade effort, how concentration corresponds to time of the
day and the time of the week and term?
Whether anybody has had an inspirational thought that day?
Whether there is a new romance in the air?
The information could be plotted on a constantly evolving screen with
great care and detail given to the presentation of the information.
The log could also be analysed as a visual way of understanding what is
happening in school.
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8. External
We would like to work collaboratively on numerous external elements .
Again these elements would all have a focus on framing and supporting
the natural activity of the students and staff .
We would like to affect the way that they move though the landscape
introducing as much adventure and exploration as possible. We would also like to impact the opportunity for stopping within the
landscape, for socializing and for playing.
We would hope to further this by working really collaboratively with Fira
to jointly agree planting schemes etc.
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Earth Topography We would like to explore where the opportunities for introducing gentle
banks and small valleys into the landscape. We imagine that some of these may be liner and other in circular
formation to create natural seating and gathering areas.
They will also be appropriated by the students for play.
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Other Landscape Formations
Similarly we would like to work collaboratively on the formation of other
landscaped areas for instance the gabions which we propose could be
castellated on the top to create a more interactive intervention that can
be used for seating.
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Meeting Points
It would be nice to include meeting points in the landscape, these could
simply be signposted areas that are developed with the students. Areascould be given characters, the secret area, the forbidden area, the quiet
area, the inspirational area.
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Empty Plinths
A series of empty plinths in the landscape that can be used to showcases
students standing and sitting on them.
These could be realised at various heights and footprints.
It is anticipated that these would also be used for games but they could be
used for teaching as well, as an impromptu exhibition space, if they
included some threaded bar from the concrete they would have the
opportunity of exhibiting work as a longer term option.
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Seating Again we would like to work collaboratively on thoughts around seating,
with particular focus on the front lawn opposite the entrance area.
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External Platforms
We would like to propose external versions of the interior stage
set/multifunctional platforms.
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9. Perimeter Fence
Shape Tables
Growing
Football posts
Allotments
Avenue of trees
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Options ,yes..... No..... possible
Next steps
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