View of the atrium from first floor balcony.
Ground floor plan showing hub and spokes arrangement.
Interior of enclosed ICT pod.
Shoreham Academy is one of four secondary schools in the West Sussex Academies programme, all designed by ArchitecturePLB. It is also one of two to be sponsored by United Learning and is a designated Christian academy, although it provides for pupils of all faiths and none.
The idea of ‘Community’ was an important driver in the design, both in terms of the academy itself and in terms of its relationship to its local context. Following an extensive dialogue, a hub and spokes typology was identified as the best reflection of the school’s structure and organisation.
The hub, in the form of a triple-height atrium, is flooded with daylight from above and provides the functional and spiritual focus for the school as well as dining at ground level. It also provides direct access to those areas of the building that will be used by the local community outside core school hours. These include the sports and performing arts facilities along with toilet clusters, the first floor LRC and two ICT spaces, expressed as ‘pods’ suspended within the main volume. The lower of these is enclosed, providing a timetabled teaching space that is also available for community uses such as adult education. The upper pod is open to the atrium for informal use and private study.
Radiating off the atrium are the main teaching wings, each a separate ‘school’ within the whole, arranged over three storeys with practical spaces at ground level and general teaching spaces above. Central voids provide visual connections between the three levels and ‘borrowed’ daylight for the central staff and breakout spaces. The radiating wings create distinct landscaped social areas, protected from the noise of the nearby road by the wings themselves.