Use of copper typifies modern approach to educational design

Photo: Peter Landers

[THE ARCHITECTURAL CLARITY of a new teaching facility at Gresham’s School in Norfolk – incorporating panels of Nordic Brown Light pre-oxidised copper alongside full-height glazing – typifies an innovative approach to education.

Enabled by former Gresham’s pupil Sir James Dyson, the centre for science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) education is a state-of-the-art structure at the heart of the school campus. WilkinsonEyre’s design develops and refines the evolving STEAM building typology and follows a modern aesthetic, integrating industrial components with landscaping and low energy systems.

The two-storey exposed steel frame envelopes a mixture of large panels: some glass and others Nordic Brown Light pre-oxidised copper – either opaque or with square perforations adding transparency while screening glazing behind. Some of the panels are set back within the structure, introducing landscaped open areas which can be used for outdoor teaching. Integrated planting blurs the boundaries between outside and in.

The thoroughly modern building remains sympathetic to its historic context and its scale reflects that of the 1916 school chapel across the lawn. Meanwhile, the patterns in the oxidised copper panels mirror the decorative flint details on the chapel elevation.

Yasmin Al-Ani Spence, director of WilkinsonEyre, explained: “This building will provide contemporary teaching spaces for the investigation of the sciences and the arts simultaneously, enhancing critical thinking and promoting innovation. The building itself – through the clarity and honesty of design and construction – becomes a teaching tool in its own right.”

With an area totalling 4,000m², teaching spaces are generous and filled with light. They include classrooms, laboratories, workshops, an auditorium and open-plan common spaces able to host a variety of teaching and learning uses. An inviting and interactive internal courtyard, doubling up as circulation, features an arts hub, seating area and IT point and facilities, further reinforcing the integration of art, design and science.

The building is equipped with the latest technology to ensure the highest levels of teaching, from robotics and artificial intelligence to programming and machine learning. The building will also provide greatly improved opportunities for the outreach programme which Gresham’s runs with local schools. A growing series of building studies exemplify the best in contemporary architecture with Nordic Copper. q • For more information visit www.nordiccopper.com or email NordicCopper@aurubis.com www.constructionnational.co.uk 13