The Business Academy Bexley, designed by Foster and Partners and sponsored by Sir David and Lady Garrard and the Garrard Education Trust, is part of the governments radical new approach to raise educational standards in areas where there is at present problems of under performance. It is the first purpose built, part-privately funded independent state school in Europe.
The architectural approach comes from original instructions given to the architects by Sir David Garrard and expanded upon in a manner consistent with the philosophy of pioneering schools regeneration company 3Es. This philosophy demands open, transparent, and compact spaces to encourage integration, communication, and cross fertilisation between students of all age groups, students and teachers, students and visitors, and all the different educational disciplines in the curriculum as well as forging intimate links with the local community to provide a safe, exciting, and enjoyable environment for out of hours extra curricular activities.
Working within the framework of the Department for Education and Skills guidelines Foster and Partners together with Valerie Bragg of 3Es developed an open-plan compact design based around three courtyard spaces devoted to business, art and technology.
The large business courtyard is the social hub of the school, housing a caf at ground level and a theatre, television studio, editing suite and fully equipped gym above. It is also home to a trading pit or mini stock exchange, with large plasma screens, offering students their first taste of City trading.
The courtyard spaces visually and functionally link teaching spaces on different levels as well as teaching spaces of different educational disciplines. The teaching spaces are separated from each other only by partitions (which are intended to be moved to change the sizes of teaching areas or adapt them for other uses) but open to circulation space and courtyard space. There are no corridors and circulation occurs through the business court, art court, and technology court at ground level or along the courtyards at levels one and two.
The building is capable of reducing heat loss in the winter and, through its unique double-layered facade with external shading louvers that automatically track the suns path, capable also of reducing heat gain during the summer to provide optimum conditions and minimise the buildings energy use.
In order to link the building to its community an existing foot bridge, which was largely unused, was demolished and replaced with a 'toucan crossing'. The entrance is now visible from the crossing and its presence can be felt by local residents and commuters alike, making it an icon for the community.
Client:
Sir David and Lady Garrard, Garrard Educational Trust/Tim Garnham
Consultants:
Buro Happold, Davis Langdon, Buro Happold, Halcrow, Harris Grant Associates, Montagu Evans, Osprey, Second London Wall