Aboyne Lodge School

Aboyne Lodge School

Infants' school, built 1948-50 on Etna Road. Designed for Hertfordshire County Council by County Architect C.H. Aslin, with D. Baron as job architect. The school was extended around 1976 and has undergone subsequent internal alterations.

The core structure consists of a modular lightweight steel frame made up of welded steel sections, with pre-cast concrete ceiling slabs and reinforced concrete wall panels fixed to it.

The school complex comprises three linked building clusters. Two clusters, positioned on the east and west sides, contain classrooms and linking access areas. A third cluster to the north houses the main entrance, communal assembly, dining areas and offices. A later nursery building was constructed to the north-west of the western cluster.

The main entrance is on the west side of the north cluster in a single-storied unit, providing access to a spacious circulation area linking all three clusters. The main elevation features a series of tall transomed three-light windows below a flat roof, with ascending tiers of shallow clerestory lights above serving areas behind the frontage.

South-west of the entrance lies the west cluster of classrooms and associated circulation areas, with a corridor extending eastwards to the junction of the three clusters. The three classrooms are square on plan, with tall three-light windows on all or part of three sides above a painted plinth panel. Above this is a further painted panel topped by a shallow three-light clerestory window extending the full length of the wall at eaves level. The southernmost classroom faces an open play area.

A set-back corridor links the west cluster to the former staff room and extensions added to the east cluster to provide two additional classrooms. These additions maintain the modular rhythm but are lower in height, with tall transomed windows replacing the original window and clerestory combinations. The east cluster's return elevation extends past the entrance doorway corridor to link with single-storey boiler house and service rooms. The school hall is the tallest element, with a continuous clerestory band of three-light windows at eaves level on all elevations. The east-facing wall is the only unenclosed wall, with three three-light glazed openings (two windows and one central double doorway) set above tall painted panels. Other wall panels are undecorated fair-faced concrete.

The original interior comprised interconnecting spaces, corridors and enclosures based on a core module of 8 feet 3 inches, designed to allow future adaptation and extension. The present interior shows little alteration and retains many original characteristics: open lattice steel ceiling beams, square-section steel columns and generous wall and clerestory glazing. The original design allowed classroom clusters to open into common cloakroom and activity areas internally, with paved enclosures externally. The current arrangement continues this philosophy, providing a well-lit, largely open-plan, accessible interior scaled to children.

Aboyne Lodge was completed in 1950 to accommodate 240 infants as part of Hertfordshire County Council's pioneering post-war school building programme, known as the 'Hertfordshire system'. This responded to post-war population increases and new town developments. Fifty new primary schools were needed in eight years—an unprecedented rate requiring new construction methods.

County Architect C.H. Aslin, Deputy Stirrat Johnston Marshall, and a team of young architects including David Medd developed a prefabricated construction system for schools, the first example of prefabricated unit construction in England. David Medd led development of the structural grid, providing flexibility and adaptability. Technical development involved the County Architect's department and specialist structural engineers, alongside new heating and lighting systems. The first school opened in 1947 at Cheshunt, with 40 more completed by 1951. Aboyne Lodge was among the earliest, alongside schools at Cheshunt, Essenden, Templewood, Welwyn Garden City and Morgan's Walk, Hertford, all now listed.

Around 1976 the school was extended with a nursery department and additional classroom, with internal modifications for junior pupils. A temporary classroom occupies the south-west boundary, but the complex remains essentially as originally designed, benefiting from internal modifications made possible by the modular system.