Amesbury School Visual Arts Building

Tags: education, masonry, glass, timber, new build, low carbon

Related projects: Wimbledon College of Arts

Amesbury School Visual Arts Building - Webb Yates Engineers
Amesbury School Visual Arts Building - Webb Yates Engineers
Amesbury School Visual Arts Building - Webb Yates Engineers
Amesbury School Visual Arts Building - Webb Yates Engineers
Amesbury School Visual Arts Building - Webb Yates Engineers
Amesbury School Visual Arts Building - Webb Yates Engineers

Webb Yates Engineers provided structural design for the new Visual Arts facility at Amesbury School. The building is a single storey pavilion block with external decking and is constructed from mainly timber to respond to the "green" agenda of the project.

The site lies semi-shielded from a grassed play area by a row of four trees. Originally there were two juvenile oaks, one semi-mature scots pine and one semi-mature oak. As part of the project the two juvenile trees, which were crowding the growth of the two semi mature ones, were removed while the two semi-mature trees were retained and encouraged to mature.

The design of the super-structure and substructure responded to the removed and retained trees. All concrete pad foundations are located away from the tree root protection areas and the superstructure wraps round the retained trees.

The superstructure is formed by a series of timber portal frames with a timber grillage roof and cladding. The west elevation uses the timber grillage with a ply layer to form a stress skin beam to create a long glazed opening. The internal space consist of a mezzanine constructed from timber studs and joist with a ply stress skin stringer staircase.

 

Awards

  1. AJ Architecture Awards 2017, School Project of the Year, shortlisted, 9 2017
  2. Structural Awards 2017, Small Projects, shortlisted, 8 2017
  3. FX Awards 2016, Best Public Space Scheme, winner, 12 2016
  4. Structural Timber Awards 2016, Education, shortlisted, 8 2016