Darell Primary School

Darell Primary School has been enlarged and enhanced by Re-Format. The school is on a very constrained urban site within the London Borough of Richmond Upon Thames and is bounded by Victorian and Edwardian houses on all sides. To achieve the necessary expansion required major reorganisation of the existing accommodation and the careful insertion of the much needed facilities. The main challenge was that all the new floor area had to be created within the existing school footprint in order not to diminish the current external play facilities – this meant extending the school by means of a ingenious insertion above the existing single storey school entrance and kitchen.

The new Studio and Library accommodation was contained within a dramatic first floor ‘glass box’ set above the existing main entrance and improved kitchen facilities. This eye-catching extension is book-ended by the original Edwardian School and is softened by vertical terracotta fins to compliment the warmth of the original brickwork.