School Green Centre – ADC

AOC has completed a highly ambitious and idiosyncratic community and cultural centre in Berkshire.

Photos

Philip Vile

Won in competition, AOC’s School Green Centre in Shinfield, Berkshire, comprises two inter-connected performance halls, a well-being hub, public library, creche, after-school club and café, as well as meeting rooms and offices for the local council. The 960-square-metre scheme includes the demolition and redevelopment of the derelict British Legion hall site and the redevelopment of the adjacent parish hall.

Inspired by the surrounding Thames Valley vernacular, the building combines two archetypes: a tower and a barn. The former provides a raised room for the community to meet, its elevated position reinforcing the importance of civic assembly with views out over the village green. A butterfly roof evokes the pitched roofs of neighbouring houses, creating a distinctive silhouette. Below, the glazed café is intended as a contemporary take on the town hall’s covered marketplace. Externally, the tower is covered in roughcast render – a nod to the area’s long association with gravel quarrying.

Designed to accommodate community events, performances and celebrations, the barn is a grand hall with a big roof. A low eaves reinforces the sense of safe enclosure, while generous doors and dormers establish a grand scale befitting the building’s civic function.

The centre provides an extended family of distinctive rooms that support new uses in response to the needs of community groups and local service providers. Communal areas are spatially efficient and designed to encourage hybrid use. The library is located within the café – a mutually beneficial synergy that is intended to bolster a growing sense of community. The café extends out onto a patio terrace overlooking the village green, while the welcome foyer and three larger halls open onto a tranquil walled garden.

Creative reuse combined with thermal upgrades to the existing parish hall have significantly reduced  embodied energy. A fabric-first approach minimises heat loss and heat gain through high levels of insulation and airtightness. For the most part, the building optimises natural stack and cross ventilation as part of a passive approach. The high-occupancy halls employ mixed-mode mechanical services when required. Air source heat pumps are used as part of an all-electric site strategy with energy loads further reduced by roof-mounted photovoltaic panels.

Additional Images

Credits