Riverhead School, Sevenoaks
Architect Architects Design Partnership
Lighting consultant Slender Winter Partnership
Client Kent County Council
The Riverhead School is a replacement for an
old Victorian school supplemented by
temporary classrooms. Built in 2001 by
Architects Design Partnership, it was designed
to be a ‘green building’ to fit into the
landscape, and to be both educationally and
environmentally responsive. The school is
designed to house 270 pupils, and is not
thought to require future expansion.
The complex is approached from the north
side, which houses the entrance, and contains
the service areas of the building, with space
for the arrival and parking of cars.
The form of the building consists of an arch
section facing south housing all the teaching
areas. The roof fits into the landscape by being
covered in vegetation. Originally designed to
be covered in grass, a decision was made to
use ‘Sedum’ to save weight and the associated
structure cost.
The teaching classrooms open to the south
on to landscaped areas, and are all daylit by
means of the window walls, associated with
circular rooflights to the rear of the spaces.
The classrooms open out on to external
teaching spaces, and these are divided up by
removable canvas ‘sails’ which are stretched
across between the classrooms; these provide
both privacy and protection, advice being
sought from an environmental audit by the
Building Research Establishment at an early
stage of the design.Air freshness is a particular concern in
classrooms, and when it is too cool or windy
to open up the glazed double doors, vents are
available above the doorheads, together with
the openable rooflight to provide air
movement. The curved section of the building
assists in which the ceiling rises towards the
rooflight, similar to the useful ventilation
volume provided by the traditional high
ceiling of the Victorian schoolroom.
The design meets the requirement to
provide an environmentally responsive
building, with an excellence of environment in
which daylight plays an important part.138 Daylighting: Natural Light in Architecture
Architect’s perspective to show the building concept
Architects Design Partnership