Aiming higher

摘要

High on a hill above Bath perches the grand and rather gloomy gothic set piece of King-swood School. Tall walls spell privilege, the timber panelled dining hall promises a rewarding trajectory through a series of similar halls of Oxbridge colleges and the inns of court, while the historic narrow corridors behind the facade summon echoes of strait-laced tutors and classroom banishments. Start walking down the hill and the lower school reveals itself as a quite different animal - at least in its new incarnation. The mature beeches along the city skyline are now joined by pitched-roof volumes in cedar with an airy, woody feel and relaxed circulation you could happily skip along. The expanded preparatory school, now joined by a nursery, can take children - babies really -from nine months. The ambitious expansion of two buildings was guided by governor and architect-educator Gill Smith and its shortlist included dRMM, Walters and Cohen and Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios. The job was won by small practice based just outside Bath, Stonewood Design.