Nick was project leader for Nicholas Hare Architects for the Golden Lane Campus, which won the BCSE Inspiring Design Award in 2009, and was published in Architecture Today the RIBA Journal and the Architects' Journal
The Golden Lane Campus involves the relocation and integration of three successful schools onto a single, complex site in Islington. It creates an innovative and inclusive environment for children and the wider community. The three institutions comprise Prior Weston Primary School, Fortune Park Surestart Children’s Centre for birth-to-six-year-olds and Richard Cloudesley School for children with physical disabilities.
The site lies on a former burial ground between the Barbican Arts Centre, the Golden Lane estate and Fortune Street Park. The project is designed to have a distinct and positive sense of identity both within the building and in its external form, to suggest - and respond to - the special nature of the campus on this very particular site.
Courtyards are carved out to admit natural light and ventilation within a dense site and to provide all teaching and communal spaces with dedicated connections to external spaces. A key feature of the spatial organisation is the ‘street’, which runs east-west through the building at ground and first floor, acting as a unifying device for the campus. This culminates in the central flexible space - or ‘town square’ - off which the various community and primary shared spaces are arranged.
The raised deck echoes the podium of the Barbican and provides controlled and assorted views over the surroundings.
Images courtesy of Nicholas Hare Architects (c) Peter Durant
“The building is absolutely brilliant. There’s lots of light everywhere and lots of colour. It is an inspirational site.”
Mary Caven, Prior Weston Headteacher
“The result is a hard-working,integrated building with a joyful atmosphere. On a sunny day,the staff room and terrace on the second floor are enough to tempt you to consider a career change.”
RIBA Journal, 2008