Hornsey School for Girls

Solution

An Ofsted ‘Outstanding’ school with a specialism in the performing arts and Humanities. Hornsey for Girls was originally constructed in the 1960s and has been extended and reorganised in a fragmentary manner over the decades.

The school required a holistic solution, coordinating the disparate buildings and external spaces to form a cohesive master-plan with distinct learning zones. The new Administration Building and Learning Resource Centre has transformed the entrance of the school giving it a friendly but secure street presence. The light and airy space has a substantial library with associated computer bays, while its proximity to the Administration Building enables students to use it at the end of a school day and the wider community after hours without accessing the rest of the school.

The circulation pattern was redesigned to improve orientation and create a strong presence for each learning zone. This included widening corridors, introducing covered external walkways and creating interactive internal and external break-out areas. Improved landscaping and the introduction of green roofs have enhanced the ecology of the site and now enable the fabric of the building to be used as a teaching resource.