Bobby Moore Academy – Primary School
The Bobby Moore Academy comprises new Primary and Secondary Schools split over two sites in the heart of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in East London and includes shared use of a Multi-Use Games Area and Pavilion.
The new 2FE Primary School, for 420 pupils, was designed to maximise its relationship with the surrounding water and provide a striking addition to the park that will serve the growing local community.
Stretching in a long, sleek two storey block, the design capitalises on its location alongside the Lee Navigation Canal. Large windows overlooking the water on one side and the Olympic Stadium on the other provide plenty of daylight in the classrooms and enhances the learning environment. This is further accentuated by the generous landscaping, playground, and entrance at the ‘forecourt’ of the school which welcomes students in.
Divided into three contiguous parts, the primary school was designed to enable upwards expansion to 3FE at a later stage. Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 teaching spaces are placed at either end and frame the central shared facilities of the main hall, dining, library and specialist teaching spaces. These are also accessible to the local community outside school hours. A terrace on the canal side provides additional teaching space, widening at the central hall to offer outdoor social and dining areas overlooking the water.
The school’s architectural form is simple and robust, using a muted palette of two-tone black and white brick tile cladding, playfully articulated with flashes of yellow trims to signify important spaces and entrances. Teaching spaces are naturally ventilated using hybrid thermal mixing units while large windows and double height spaces maximise daylighting throughout.
The school has also been designed to accommodate future expansion upwards to cater for an additional class per year group.
Adjacent to the Primary School is a Multi-Use Games Area and small pavilion for use both by the school and the local community. The pavilion contains changing rooms and storage and has been designed as a small beacon at the intersection of Marshgate Lane and a future bridge from Hackney Wick.
A two-storey turret is formed by a basket weave of brickwork, screening high level plant, while the black and white brickwork, reflecting the colours and materials of the Primary School, is inscribed with figures that reference the photographs of the Victorian photographer Eadweard Muybridge.
