school hall - on site
a-207
Nine Wells Hall
A hall and two teaching rooms for a primary school, currently on site, where the roof is shaped by how long the room holds a sound.
One copper stroke, as on every drawing in the register. Here it is the lantern glazing - the surface that sets the room's reverberation.
A school hall is asked to do assembly, lunch, PE, music and a play at Christmas. Those want different rooms. Assembly and music want a reverberation time near 1.0 seconds; lunch for 240 children wants it as short as it can be got. The building cannot have both, so it was drawn for 0.9 seconds and given absorption that can be dropped in.
The roof lantern is where the argument lands. Glass is the hardest surface in the building and the lantern is 5.2 m across, so every 100 mm of extra width bought daylight and cost reverberation. It was sized against the acoustic model first and the daylight model second, which is the reverse of the usual order, and it came out at 5.2 m with the glazing tilted 12° so the reflection is thrown at the absorptive rear wall rather than straight back down at the floor.
The hall is on site as of August 2026. Steelwork is up, the lantern is due in the spring, and completion is set for the 2027 summer holiday so the school loses no term time.
- Site
- Nine Wells
- Client
- Nine Wells Primary School
- Programme
- Hall for 240, two teaching rooms, store
- Gross floor area
- 640 m²
- Design reverberation
- 0.9 s at 500 Hz, occupied
- Lantern
- 5.2 m clear, glazing tilted 12°
- Structure
- Steel frame, glulam roof beams
- On site since
- March 2026
- Completion
- Summer 2027
Working on something this shape?
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