HAZELWOOD SCHOOL

H A Z E L W O O D S C H O O L . G L A S G O W
g m + a d a r c h I t e c t s .
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Hazelwood School is an education facility for up to 60 students with multiple disabilities. Each student attending the school has a combination of two or more of the following impairments: visual impairment, hearing impairment, mobility or cognitive impairment. The students are aged between 3 and 19 and the school provides education from nursery through to secondary stages.

The school itself and the Life Skills House (an independent facility used for life learning and respite) have a combined area of 2665m2 and are set within a landscaped green adjacent to Bellahouston Park.

The design of the building has focused on creating a safe, stimulating environment for its pupils and staff. The focus and ambition from both client and architect (gm+ad) at the outset was to develop a building that would eliminate as much as possible the institutional feel that a project of this nature inherently possesses. The designers worked to avoid conventional/standard details, creating a solution bespoke to the project requirements and developing a building that was entirely embodied the users needs.

The existing site was surrounded by mature lime trees and had a large lime tree and three beach trees in the centre. The building snakes through the site, curving around the existing trees. Its form creates a series of small garden spaces suitable to the small class sizes and maximises the potential for more intimate external teaching environments. Internally the curved form of the building reduces the visual scale of the main circulation spaces and helps remove the institutional feel that one long corridor would create ? in addition, this also significantly reduces visual confusion by limiting the extents of the space.

The choice of materials was of great importance to the creation of a design that was both suitable in the context and exciting to the user. The design team developed a palette of highly textured natural materials that would be stimulating to touch and smell. Naturally weathering timber boarding, reclaimed slate tiles and zinc were chosen for use externally to give variety and contrast.

Navigation and orientation through the building were of critical importance and a key objective was to encourage independence for the children throughout. The concept of a trail rail was developed in the circulation area as a key initial concept, this doubled as a storage wall to deal with specific storage requirements but also established a navigational tool or device in the building which allowed the children to move around the school with a level of freedom. The wall is clad in cork, which has warmth and tactile qualities and provides signifiers or messages along the route to confirm the children?s location within the school.

The building is very much a product of an extended and detailed briefing process and has been designed to deal with very specific issues whilst ensuring an architectural quality. It?s a building that is designed not only to assist in the stimulation of the senses, but as an environment that stimulates the imagination. As architect?s gm+ad believe that the building is very responsive to what is ultimately a very challenging brief and this has been achieved by a fully comprehensive and continued dialogue with the client and end users.



Design Share Awards 2008 : Jury feedback
?I adore the orange cabinets, the 50% horizontal glazing, and the lovely, lovely, lovely wooden beams (vertical and horizontal) alike. And as a papa of a young kiddo myself, the ground space is built for play/exploration/tumbling/soft napping. Now, as to the other elements, I can?t say enough about the committed focus to guarantee the students? ability to maintain/develop ?independence? and ?freedom?. The navigational wall rail, the cork board (sensitive/comfy to the touch), and the ?risky? choice of curved walls that seems to defy the ?logic? of traditional views of ?helping? disabled humans get from point A to B. But when ?discovery? and ?trust? are coupled?anything is possible! Oh, how do I respect the approach this team took!?
Christian Long
?I am taken by the amount of time spent with users, client, staff as well as experts. A great deal of thought - four years - went into this design result. The attention to multi-sensory detail, the integration of the building with its site, and the focus on way finding is quite interesting - although I confess I do not know enough to be a judge of its success. I sense that much was learned by all in this process. I hope they publish a lengthier book detailing what they learned.?
Jeff Lackney
?A beautiful, well thought-out design. Every school should be like this. It sits well in the site making most of existing trees. Use of natural materials and variety of materials give it a very ?soft? edge. Internal spaces have excellent daylight and louvers create stimulating patterns. Space planning is also a very good with wide corridors and storage spaces outside each classroom for mobility aids etc. There is also access to outside from each classroom. Whole briefing process is also innovative. Not many schools would appoint a head two years in advance. Four months consultation process also seems to have helped in refining the brief. An excellent facility for some of the most needy children. I will go all the way to Honor Award on this one.?
Mukund Patel
?Great feeling, good energy. This school captures the tight site mentality without becoming boxy and institutional.?
David Smith


Awards
2008 PREMIO INTERNAZIONALE DEDALO MINOSSE ALLA COMMITTENZA DI ARCHITETTURA (selected)
2008 CIVIC TRUST AWARD
2008 DESIGN SHARE - HONOR AWARD
2008 G.I.A. AWARD
2008 WORLD ARCHITECTURE FESTIVAL AWARDS : SHORTLISTED
2008 CHICAGO ATHENAEUM MUSEUM of ARCHITECTURE and DESIGN International ARCHITECTURE AWARD
2007 ROYAL INCORPORATION OF ARCHITECTS IN SCOTLAND, ANDREW DOOLAN AWARD. BEST BUILDING IN SCOTLAND - FINAL SHORTLIST




Design Team:

Gordon Murray : Partner : GM+AD Architects
Alan Dunlop : Partner : GM+AD Architects
Stacey Phillips : Project Director : GM+AD Architects
Stephen Doherty : Architect : GM+AD Architects




Photography:

Andrew Lee Potography

gm+ad architects, based in Glasgow, is widely regarded as one of Scotland's most dynamic practices gaining an international reputation with over thirty awards for architecture, including Europa Nostra, RIBA, British Construction Industry, BCO , RIAS , RIAI and Scottish Design Awards, producing works which contribute to the their clients interests and to place-making within context.

The ethos of the practice is to be creative, innovative and dynamic within a studio environment whilst being responsive to client requirements, professional rigour and a sense of place. Designing sustainable buildings in the belief that positive additions to the built environment act as a mechanism for positive cultural change.

Both the principals are involved in progressing civic engagement through education and professional representation. Correspondingly, several members of the practice work in the studios of both schools of architecture in the city.

In addition to new built projects across Scotland and in Ireland, North of England and London, gm+ad architects is involved in conservation, sensitive urban renewal and regeneration initiatives. The practice operates within the framework of current quality and environmental management systems.

Our client base is purposely varied in both public and private sectors, ranging from individuals through housing associations to major corporate bodies and financial institutions.

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