Science laboratory & Common room, Southgate School
Southgate School is a large well respected state high school in north London. The school was awarded science specialist status in 2004 and needed to create a new state of the art science laboratory. Feasibility studies were undertaken to establish a location, focusing on under-used or newly found spaces. The most appropriate opportunity was to create a new floor across a two storey atrium area.
The school wanted us to create a unique and fun solution – one that might help build interest and enjoyment in science. The ground floor area beneath the new lab would remain a common room, and we didn’t want to lose the benefit of the atrium light so a new lab was created that floats off the existing atrium walls. A continuous light void runs around it, accommodating eighteen aluminium sun pipes that drop like ribs around the ‘boat-like’ lab. The sun pipes flood the common room with daylight, supplemented by dramatic lighting effects from above the suspended white membrane foils under the ‘hull’ of the laboratory.
The interior of the laboratory is a calm teaching space, designed to exactly meet the school’s needs. The teaching space is accessed by small glazed bridge link. The glass roof over the lab - which allows in daylight – is controlled with motorized blinds to allow a virtual black-out option when required. The new laboratory was opened by the then Science Minister Lord Sainsbury, and ex-School’s Minister Stephen Twigg MP on 24th February 2005. The budget was £285,000.
