SANDAL MAGNA COMMUNITY PRIMARY SCHOOL, WAKEFIELD

摘要

Sandal Magna is a charismatic addition to a quiet suburb of Wakefield that manages to reconcile robustly contemporary architecture with the Victorian residential fabric and industrial heritage that surrounds it. It is also a building that embraces the term "practice what you preach" with an infectious enthusiasm. The physical fabric of the building itself is configured as a tool that teaches the pupils about both construction and sustainability. Consequently, "secret" wall openings reveal transparent internal rainwater harvesting pipes, an external wall is clad in corrugated polycarbonate sheeting to reveal the blue wool insulation submerged behind it and, throughout, opportunities are taken to expose sprinkler systems, sound-proofing, pipe-work and materials. The result is a poetic exercise in architectural vivisection, a building with its intestines out on full display in a forthright physical embodiment of the ethos of education.