Cardinal Pole School Extension

A new Library building for Cardinal Pole School (designed by Jestico & Whiles). The project responds to a key educational need for literacy and language learning in the school and presents itself as distinct from the existing buildings but precisely following their proportions.  The new building is a two storey cube clad in copper-coloured perforated metal which reflect the colours of the existing brick of the main school building but creates a lighter vertical rhythm.

The upper two levels are constructed of cross-laminated timber (CLT), sitting on a concrete ‘table’ over the existing school playground and parking areas. The new building forms an important link to the upper landscaped areas of the school and negotiates a complex corner of the site with older retaining walls and changes in level. The timber is exposed on the interior of the library as a grid of CLT beams which gives the building its own character within the school.