CDC Studio

Dr Stephen Perse was a man of vision who, back in the 17th century, believed that education should be a right rather than a privilege, accessible to those with ability rather than dependent on income.

Dr Perse, a fellow of Gonville and Caius College at the University of Cambridge died in 1615 and his Will included a bequest of land for the establishment of a 'Grammar Free Schoole'.

The site is located in central Cambridge, adjacent to the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Molecular Informatics on Union Road. It is set within an urban context amongst two and three storey residential properties on Bentinck Street, Coronation Street and Panton Street, sitting in the New Town and Glisson Road Conservation Area.

Brick

The materials of the new building have been carefully considered to take account of the site’s context within the New Town and Glisson Road Conservation Area. The conservation area appraisal highlights the predominant and creative use of brickwork, noting the depth of the reveals to windows and doors, and the use of projecting or decorative brickwork to form features such as cornices or panelling.

The new building develops this language in buff brick with a high degree in variation of colour and mortar pigmented to remain pale and lime-coloured.

The depth of the brickwork is key to the articulation of the façade; full-brick projections and deep reveals to the glazing express the weight and robustness of the material. Soldier courses and herringbone friezes provide accents within the overall composition.

Environmental Strategy

The building has been designed to be principally naturally ventilated, including the sports hall, which is served by assisted stack ventilation to rooftop level.

Classrooms are ventilated on one external wall via a mixture of acoustically attenuated ventilation panels and openable windows/doors for the hottest days of the year. This ensures low background noise to the classroom spaces, as recommended by BB93, whilst ensuring good air quality.

For the 3no classroom spaces at third floor level, Breathing Buildings low-energy ‘E-stack’ units are used to achieve good ventilation whilst reducing excess heating. These vent via rooftop louvred enclosures similar to the sports hall stacks.

A multi-purpose double height area beneath the MUGA links the internal and external space. This is an informal area which can be used for learning, recreation or performance. The external canopy is supported by abstract ‘tree’ like columns which rise from the ground and a canopy of beams which extend from the outside in.

Superstructure

The superstructure, designed by Smith and Wallwork is a hybrid steel, glulam and cross laminated timber (CLT) structure. Steel framing is used to create the large spans (including transfer structures) over the sportshall. CLT is used to form floor and roof slabs which in turn are supported by CLT wall panels. The structure is celebrated with the exposure of of the panels in many areas.

Basement

The basement box essentially works as the foundation to the building. Steel sheeting piling forms the retaining wall to the basement and is locked into a concrete capping beam at ground floor and a concrete raft slab at basement level.

This form of construction is known as a ‘steel intensive basement’. With the lightweight CLT structure above, foundation loads are reduced, making it possible to support the building without the use of concrete bored piles.

The installation of the sheet pile wall used a silent piling technique where piles are hydraulically pushed in to the ground rather than vibrated or driven. This form of installation is highly suited to the City Centre location of the site.