Pegasus Academy – Phase 2

The remodelling and expansion of Pegasus Academy brings together a fragmented site with a series of interventions and extensions that thread new teaching spaces through a complex fabric of existing buildings. The result is a striking transformation of the school that clearly marks the civic pride and significance of a school at the heart of its community.

The second phase of the project involved the restructuring the organisation and circulation flows around the site and the construction of 7 new classrooms, 6 remodelled classrooms, a hall extension and a new administration hub. The works were carried out in multiple construction and landscape phases of work around an occupied school site.

The concept of a ‘responsive roofscape’ informs a site-wide strategy to revitalise the different learning environments and provide a controlled sense of scale to the new development. Conceived as a series of room-scaled extensions, the design assimilates the pitches and proportions of the Victorian school but plays with the scale and repetition of the roof forms: the language of the Victorian school is adapted to animate and excite a playful and stimulating set of learning environments.

A new ribbon of timber slats at ceiling level within the circulation routes brings the two schools together and connects the new with the old. The coordinated design of finishes, lighting and skylights in these spaces creates a language of common elements that can be used as a navigational tool by the users of the building. Within the building the varied scales of ceiling profiles aid way-finding and act as a shared reference point for children progressing through each year-group in the school.

The typical classroom environment was developed closely with the school community. Each of the classrooms includes a bay for small group working within the classroom as well as large, double-leaf doors that allow the classroom space to extend out to widened circulation areas that form break-out spaces for larger groups of pupils. The project included the formation of a new entrance for the school and an extended hall that brought about the opportunity to enhance the streetscape and the school’s civic presence: a single ‘golden’, public-scale pitched roof.

The new facade brings the two schools together by adopting the pitches and massing of the Victorian buildings at either end. The resultant form leads the eye towards the Victorian Junior Gym building; reinforcing its prime position in the group of buildings that make up the frontage of the school. The form of the new elevation is cut to create a logical public entrance leading into the heart of the school under a new pergola structure. A large picture window, is cut into the overall form to break up the facade and allow glimpses of the roof-scape of the school beyond.

Awards
Architectural Review Schools Award: Winner
RIBA Regional Award: Winner
AJ Retrofit Award: Schools Award
Civic Trust Award: Winner
RICS Awards: Shortlisted
FX International Interior Design Award: Best Public Sector Interior Award

Publications
‘Sum of Parts’ – Architectural Review No. 1424 – October 2015
Future Schools: Innovative Design for Existing and New Buildings – Nick Mirchandani and Dr Sharon Wright – RIBA Publishing 2015
‘Hayhurst and Co adds a golden extension to a Victorian London school’ – Dezeen – February 2015
‘Whitehorse Manor School’ – The Architectural Review – September 2015 
‘The best school in the world found in…..Croydon’ – The Architect’s Journal – September 2015