Hazelwood School For The Multiple Sensory Impaired

Narratives

Educator Narrative

The school’s headteacher says:

“” When our children leave this school, they will not go into jobs or go and live in their own flat or house- they will always need to be supported. Adults who are blind and have learning difficulties can lead passive lives. But the more independence they have, the more choices they will be able to make and the more stimulating their lives will be.”"

The deputee head adds:
“”one young person, the most cognitively challenged person I’ve ever met, can now go and eat and go to the toilet by himself. For the rest of his life his dignity will be maintained.”"

What exemplary ideas do the designs contain that enhance learning?

The school, situated within suburbs to the south of the city, is a bespoke learning centre for children and young people with multiple physical or mental impairments.

Aiming to enhance students’ school experience and develop their independence through a highly individualised, multi-sensory curriculum, the school demanded a complex and intricate brief, with even the smallest feature of the building conceived as a learning aid.

The building snakes around mature lime trees which surround the site, nestling to the one side of an adjacent large public park. Classrooms lay along the northern quiet, edge of the site, overlooking verdant play spaces. The external envelope of the school steps and curves to create a series of safe and stimulating landscaped teaching gardens.

These outside spaces are integral to the teaching practice of the school. It is vital that the children have an accessible external environment, which allows them to breath fresh air, to hear the wind rustling the trees and to feel the rain. These sensory experiences whilst taken for granted by many, form a critical part of a pupil’s education.

High level clerestory glazing forms a substantial part of the façade of the north-facing classrooms, allowing for maximum daylight to penetrate deep into the spaces and ensuring even distribution of light. Storage boxes, two and a half metres tall, create a solid wall below the clearstory glazing; this reduces external visual distraction, highlighted by teaching staff as a significant cause of loss of concentration levels in some visually impaired students.

The ability to use toilet facilities un-aided offers great independence to the pupils. The location, type, size and fittings of the sanitary facilities have been carefully selected to help educated the students in the variety of toilet types they are likely to come into contact with.

Ease of orientation within the school is essential to support each child’s developing independence. In response to this, the sensory wall was developed in the circulation ‘street’ as a navigational tool that would allow the children to move around the school safely.

The large sculptural units that make up the sensory wall also act as storage units in which mobility-training equipment is kept. The wall is clad in cork, which has a warm tactile quality and provides signifiers along the route to confirm the children’s location within the school.

Each one of the external materials was selected for their sensory qualities. The natural larch weatherboarding develops a strong grain when exposed to the elements, offering a gently rippled tactile quality for ‘trailing’ (navigation using the sense of touch).

Roofing slate hung vertically as cladding has been used to contrast with the timber boarding. Noticeably harder to the touch, the slate walls define external spaces and have the advantage on the south elevations of being a strong heat source, providing another navigation tool for students.

What innovations in the planning, programming and design process supported the realization of those exemplary ideas?

The architects were appointed as ‘lead consultant’ following a invited competition involving six practices. The client handed the architects the task and freedom to develop an innovative response to a bespoke project type.

One of the most important aspects of the client’s involvement was their understanding that the original brief was only an outline description of what was actually required. Due to the complex needs of the user an extended brief development stage was allowed for in the projects design programme. This stage, which included data gathering, site visits, consultations with user & staff, was to last for four months. The research and refinement of requirements that took place during this period was crucial to the creation of an innovative and functional building.

In acknowledgment of the complexity of the buildings requirements the client employed the new Head Teacher for two years prior to the school being scheduled to open. The expense and effort involved in employing a head teacher at such an early stage should be applauded as it undoubtedly ensured a superior final product. The Head Teachers role during this period was to ensure the functionality of the building by way of co-ordinating the interests of the various users and feeding this information to the design team. Experienced in dealing with the schools user group, the Head Teacher also became the architect’s day-to-day contact on issues relating to user needs. This was essential during the design process as every design decision from colour choice to furniture design/location was effected by these special needs.

The client also brought on board specialist consultants such as an ophthalmic specials, to discuss the specific effects of certain disabilities. The project was presented to these specialists at various stages of the design to ensure all issues were being taken into account. These meetings helped stimulate discussion and ideas.

Perhaps the most important aspect of the client/architect relationship was the freedom given to the architect to be in continuous contact with those who had experience of the users specific disabilities. This interaction with staff, head teachers and specialist expert gave the architects the opportunity to fully understand the requirements, potentials and restraints of the project.

For both the architects and the client the completed building represents a successful conclusion to an intense four-year design, consultation and construction process, involving parents, teachers, clinicians and the children themselves.