Case Study

Lee Centre, Bath

Feilden Fowles' two-storey Lee Centre is an Applied Learning Centre, focusing on science - the foundation school's specialist subject. It offers four classrooms individually themed and furnished for science, technology, engineering and maths, arranged in adjoining pairs around a double-height breakout space for independent learning. It is designed as a porous building in the round, with teaching spaces leading on to the learning landscape. A series of open, flexible spaces are geared towards a more university-style teaching method of independent learning. Constructed in cross-laminated timber, the building is partly embedded in the landscape, accessed by ramps leading up to the first-floor gallery level overlooking the hub space. Sweetchestnut cladding marches across the elevations with a strong vertical rhythm, giving way to dark-stained timber at the lower level, which is also used elsewhere to express deep cuts in the building envelope for entrances.

An earthy palette of materials includes polished limecrete floors, using limestone excavated from the site, as well as rammed earth. The design is intended both to engage students and honestly express the structure and materials.

The Lee building is the first element in a broader masterplan Feilden Fowles is working on for the school, and forms a new cornerstone to the campus.

Client: Ralph Allen School, Bath
Architect: Feilden Fowles
Completed: 2013
Budget: £1.75m