The Cloisters at St Benedict's School in west London, designed by Henley Halebrown Rorrison, were completed in 2008. Two new halls were commissioned - one for assemblies, the other for examinations - as well as a new chapel, a music school and modern languages department, and visitor and pupil entrances. To maximise space and perhaps also honour the school's Roman Catholic ethos, the architect slotted one hall inside another to invoke a cloisters. The inner two-storey 225m~2 examination hall is framed by columns and doors which, when open, increase the floor area to 400m~2 - a suitable size for an assembly. Traditionally, a cloister was used to separate or enclose monks or nuns from outside life, and the monolithic and stark concrete used in the examination hall suggests a monastic and ascetic aesthetic.
展开▼
