Woodlea Primary School

Woodlea Primary School

This primary school was designed in 1989 and built between 1990 and 1991 by Hampshire County Council Architect's Department, with job architects Nev Churcher and Sally Daniels. It was extended in 2005 to a design by Nev Churcher.

The construction combines brick walling and timber-frame on concrete pads, with partial cladding in shiplap boarding. Windows include timber-frame picture windows, patent-glazed aluminium-frame skylights and clerestory lights. The roofs are covered in cedar shingle.

The building has a crescent-shaped footprint arranged on 1200mm grids with node points at the junctions between different grid alignments. A largely open corridor, or 'street', runs from the lobby through the centre of the building and along to the teaching wings. The school is built across a sloping site with three changes in level. The main entrance, staff rooms and library occupy the middle level. A hall, kitchen and music room are on the upper level to the west. The teaching wings are on the lower level to the east; to the north is the infant teaching wing with a line of staggered classrooms, and to the south is the cranked junior teaching wing with pairs of classrooms on either side of a central cloakroom lobby.

The multi-faceted single-storey building stands at the top of a grassy bowl that descends to the east. Visitors are led to the reception lobby by a tapering brick wall extending from the north side. The elevations facing the hillside to the west form an outer 'crust' of brick walls, including the west sides of the teaching wings, staff rooms, kitchen, hall and music room. A lower lean-to with boiler room and caretaker's office is attached to the west side of the hall, with a small extension added to the west side. On the west elevation of the junior wing are a pair of covered verandas reinforced with cross bracing on either side of the cloakroom lobby; one end has been partially infilled with half-timber and glazed partitions. Entrances around the building include each classroom with its own entrance on the west side. The doors are hardwood with glazed inserts.

The east side of the building comprises the 'inner' elevations, constituting the 'soft side', with a raised timber floor projecting over the ground level descending to the east. The walling is principally timber-frame infilled by glazing and shiplap cladding, with timber-framed windows painted largely in accordance with the original scheme. Several doors lead onto timber decking in front of shared teaching spaces and the library, surrounded by timber posts with chunky hand and knee rails. Many decking planks have been replaced in recent years and handrailing in front of the infant wing has been reinforced by slender timber balustrading. At the east end of the infant wing is a 2005 flat-roof classroom extension with corresponding raised decks, constructed in similar materials to the original building.

The roofscape is a complex arrangement of opposed mono-pitched and flat roofs. The roof over the central hall is an asymmetrical gambrel-style roof.

The main entrance lobby and reception is located on the north side on the middle level. To the east are offices, toilet facilities, kitchen and staff room with timber and brick partitions and timber-clad ceilings. South of the entrance, the hallway runs south with an open library area on the east side, delineated by half-height timber partitions and posts. The south end of the library has been partially enclosed in later years with timber and glazed partitions. On the west side is a cooking area with brick and timber partitions, which has undergone minor alterations. A former craft room has been modified, mostly repurposed as teaching space with the north end enclosed as a server room.

The upper level to the west contains the brick hall at its centre, with a white plasterboard ceiling supported by a laminated timber asymmetrical portal frame including cruck-like principal rafters rising from the beechwood floor. Gym equipment is attached to the walls. Natural light is provided by a row of skylights. Either side of the south entrance are changing rooms. Adjacent is the music room, irregular in plan for acoustic reasons, lit by an assortment of windows of various shapes set into brick walls.

To the north-east and south-east at middle level are the teaching wings on the lower level. Many timber partitions within the teaching wings are partially glazed with opening and windows providing observation points between classrooms, including round windows by the entrances to each wing.

The infant wing to the north has a staggered line of classrooms. Each original classroom includes an enclosed base on the west side with a low roof and limited windows. The principal classroom area is subdivided into a wet area with brick walls, tiled floor and sink to the west, and dry area to the east with timber-frame walls and carpeted timber floor. Each tiled floor includes encaustic tiles with different designs created by various invited artists. Ceiling treatment changes with plaster ceilings to the west and slatted timber ceilings to the east. Further east, classrooms open onto shared space with doors onto outdoor decking. The 2005 classroom extends to the north-east of the infant wing.

The cranked junior wing classrooms have a similar internal arrangement with brick and tile to the west and timber-frame to the east; there are no bases in this wing. Along the east side is a shared space with doors onto an outdoor decking area. At the centre is a brick cloakroom containing lockers that have recently replaced earlier timber shelves and coat rails. At the north end is an enclosed former tutorial room, recently repurposed as the headteacher's office.