Project Description
FROM THE ARCHITECT (July 24, 2015):
The Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) has been chosen by
Brighton College to design a new building that will accommodate its Sport and
Sciences departments. Emerging as a winner of an invited competition in 2013,
the project was further developed and submitted for planning approval in July
2015.
In OMA’s design, the two departments are combined into a linear building
situated at the edge of the playing field. Primary sporting spaces are on level
with the field, and the sports hall opens directly onto it. The Sciences
department spans over the sporting spaces like a “skeletal” bridge. The façades are inspired in part by the regular rhythm of the terrace housing
opposite the new building. Inside, views from one department into the other make for lively and
animated circulation throughout the new building, creating an unexpected
interplay between Sport and Sciences.
Established in 1845,
Brighton College is a private, co-ed boarding and day school in Brighton,
England, and over the years has cemented its reputation as one of Britain’s
leading schools. The campus is comprised of two areas: a historical quadrangle,
composed of Grade II listed buildings designed by Sir Gilbert Scott and Sir
Thomas Jackson in the 19th century; and the playing field lined with buildings
from the 1970s and 1980s, the site of the new building.