Our first project as school architect for St Margaret’s in Berwick is the provision of four classrooms and a library for the junior school. The topography of the site and the superb existing landscape have been exploited to achieve on grade access to both ground and first floors of the new complex and to maximise the enjoyment of the gardens from the interiors.

A guiding concept was to use the architecture to bridge between the inner world of the imagination with the physically exuberant one of outdoor play. The curved wall of the ground floor library forms interior and exterior seating niches for the occupation and delight of the children. Combined with the extensive use of glazing, low and deep sills it offers opportunities for the display of books and projects as a way of communicating the library’s important role within the culture of the school.