A regional college for land-based education and training, BCA is built around Hall Place, a Grade 1 listed Mansion House, and set in landscaped parkland, providing students and staff with an attractive learning environment on a 400 acre campus.
Ross Bridgman, associate at Archial and project architect at BCA, stated that the Science Building was designed as a prototype of sustainable teaching facility in line with the college’s brief to provide horticultural and science teaching laboratories, as well as flexible general teaching classrooms. The design concept responds appropriately to the site’s context as an integral part of the open landscape, blending into its rural location and respecting the adjacent Grade 1 listed Hall Place. This building contains a range of modern, well equipped science laboratories as well as full equipped design studios.
The building occupies the footprint of an existing disused glasshouse and has a series of new glasshouses integrated into the design, which is used for demonstration and teaching purposes.
The new Science Building has been constructed using a range of sustainable methods including a Glulam timber frame with pre-fabricated timber wall panels, in-filled with recycled shredded paper insulation; green roof; zinc cladding; natural ventilation; day-lighting through sun pipes, rain sensitive roof lights and high level opening clerestory glazing; and grey water recycling. The installation of low-energy fittings and service metering has aided in further reducing energy requirements. Heating and hot water is provided by a district heating system incorporating a biomass boiler which makes use of biomass fuel grown and harvested on the college site.
The building is equipped with a large sedum roof for rainwater attenuation from which excess rainfall is collected in feature water ponds and used for landscape maintenance and natural habitat enhancement. Rainfall from the zinc roof areas is collected and used for WC flushing.
Earlier this year UK-based international architectural specialist Archial won the Best Educational Building category at the LABC Central Building Excellence Awards 2010 for its design of BCA.
