NewsJuly 15, 2008
NEW case study: Kingsdale School
 A new sports hall and music school are the latest additions to the Kingsdale School in Southwark, London, transformed in 2005 by architects dRMM. The new buildings are the first example of a cross-laminated solid timber prefabricated building for schools in the UK and can be seen as a demonstration project for the future delivery of fast to erect, ecologically sound education buildings.
The two new buildings replace inadequate existing facilities. The sports building houses a four-court multi-use sports hall, flexible activity/dance mezzanine, changing and store facilities and spectator areas. The music school - appropriately harpsichord-shaped - incorporates five new classrooms, six practice rooms, staff offices and staff social space as well as a large new performance space.
Both sit beneath a surprisingly twisted roof plane. The roof structure itself is relatively simple, a series of glulam beams spanning the short sections of both buildings. But as they run along the building, the beams are delicately skewed to create a rhomboid roof profile.
The adoption of new construction methods and material is something for which rDMM has earned a reputation. For both the music and sports buildings, a new system of prefabricated solid timber panels was used for the main load-bearing construction of both the walls and the roof above the glulam beams. The rudimentary, but practical, giant sized ‘plywood' panels were formed of cross-laminated softwood, milled and fabricated in Austria.
This product offers many advantages, including improved on-site erection periods, sustainability, omission of wet trades and factory quality finishes. The superstructure was substantially erected from pre-fabricated elements within 10 weeks.
To view the case study click here.
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