St Patrick’s School

St Patrick RC Primary School in North London is a typical inner city primary school, short of space, and with 2 previous new additions to provide a nursery and a library, known as the Book Box. vHH was commissioned to investigate how to provide a second large space to supplement their main hall, which was not available during long parts of the day due to the lunch service. We undertook a number of options studies, and finally agreed that the most feasible option was to replace the existing staffroom with a new multi-purpose ‘studio’, and to re-configure the admin wing to provide a new school reception and office spaces. All of this was achieved with only a small increase in building footprint. Architecturally the new studio provides an opposing bookend to the Book Box, this time clad in brick similar to the existing buildings. Flush mounted windows with narrow frames emphasise the sculptural appearance of the new brick volumes. Large areas of glazing and rooflights provide light, and a glazed window with integral door provides an out of hours entrance to the studio.