The Bridge Academy, Hackney, London
- Client: Department for Children, Schools and Families and UBS Investment Bank
- Principal designer: BDP
- Principal engineer: BDP
- Principal contractor: Mace Plus
- Contract value: £33 million
About the project
The Bridge Academy, situated on an extremely tight, brownfield site confined by the Regent’s Canal, shows how design can create a high-quality learning environment on even the most challenging site. The client, investor, design team and school community all worked together closely from start.
The Academy, which specialises in music and maths, has 1,150 students and its inspiring design aims to improve students’ attendance and performance. Its facilities are also available to the local community.
The vertical arrangement of the building is based on BDP’s successful ‘schools without corridors’ research, bringing pupils and staff together, maximising social interaction and minimising poor behaviour. A ‘sound shell’, clad in maintenance-free red cedar, wraps teaching spaces around the social heart of the school. A ‘music box’ sits by the canal, and can be transformed into a 450-seat auditorium. A garden terrace, sports terrace and hanging gardens link the elements and spaces between.
There is natural light throughout the school, even in the sports hall which is sunk below street level.
Judges' comment
"This multi-storey academy makes a significant contribution to its east London location."
