A new sixth form college at the heart of Dorset’s historic Canford School.
The newly completed Sixth Form Hub for Canford school repurposes an old cellular dormitory building into an open and inviting study and social space for the school’s Sixth Form. Designed to tie in with a new halls of residence currently under construction next door, the Hub provides a range of formal and informal study spaces offering students flexibility in how and where they study.
The sixth form college is designed to prepare pupils for the transition to university life, and life after. Our design interventions provide a hub of engaging community and social spaces for the whole sixth form to use, and will be home for upper sixth day pupils. Facilities for students include space for advice and support for future study and careers, as well as health and wellbeing support.
Along with multi-purpose social and educational spaces, the building includes facilities such as conference and seminar spaces, workplace style environments, flexible and adaptable workspaces offering a variety of working methods to suit different needs, and a teaching kitchen with dining area for pupil led entertaining.
The sixth form college is designed to prepare pupils for the transition to university life, and life after.
The original 1930s building has a reinforced concrete frame structure with a central spine wall and concrete slab floors. We worked closely with GAP structural engineers to open up the space horizontally and to create a new atrium running the full height of the building to bring light deep into the plan.
An important part of the brief was to make connections vertically through the building, to encourage community and contact amongst students. To achieve this, we restored the original main stair, opening this up to the main atrium space, and introduced a new spiral stair between the common room and social space above.
It was important to ensure the finished building had enough character and variety to engage the students and encourage them to take ownership of it. Common rooms and houses are the heart of sixth form life and we want the students to feel they can express themselves in their new home.
Along with introducing new contemporary spaces we have also maintained and enhanced historic features such as fireplaces and original door screens, carefully combining new and old.
The school has recently completed the fitout and sixth formers have been persuaded to decamp from their old common rooms into the new building, where they are finding new spaces to occupy. Feedback has been very positive from all parties so far.
