Woodlea Primary School, Bordon
Woodlea Primary School is sited sensitively in a forest of ancient oak, birch and pine sloping steeply down from iron-age earthworks. It was completed in 1991 and provides places for 245 children.
The architect aimed to set the building into the landscape with the minimum of disturbance, creating a total learning environment where structure and nature meet. Strenuous efforts were made to preserve and enhance as many as possible of the existing site features.
The building lies along the contours of a natural bowl, at three different floor levels connected by ramps. Pitched roofs clad with cedar shingles are broken by clerestories and lanterns to bring daylight into the building.
This building was the winner of the RIBA President’s Building of
the Year Award in 1993, and in 1994 it was the overall winner of the BBC
Design Awards.
