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‘Behind the design’ – Eaton Socon Preschool

We were recently asked by Lunawood (Timber cladding producer based in Finland) to undertake a video interview for their ‘Behind the design’ series.

We were asked to do an interview with Lunawood about our RIBA award winning scheme – Eaton Socon Preschool in Eaton Socon, St Neots, Cambridgeshire. We discussed the idea of the project, the material choices and the successes of the scheme. The scheme replaced a pair of dilapidated porta cabins and generated a unique courtyard shaped new build home for charity to provide Ofsted Outstanding early years education.

Lunawood – Thermowood – was the chosen product for the external cladding both in black and natural. Millworks Timber Ltd were the UK supplier who assisted in the project implementation.

Video production: Origins of Motion, Medialouhos

Civic Trust Awards 2020 – Assessment

Our RIBA East multi award-winning pre-school building has been selected for assessment by the Civic Trust Awards 2020 – exciting times! We were recently informed the assessors would be visiting the pre-school to review the use and setting of the building in its community context. We were not allowed to be present as they wanted an impartial view from the client, the users and the community to see how this unique building has been received.

We are now awaiting any further news on this awards process but being even selected for assessment has been fantastic news for us and all involved in the project.

In addition, we have been speaking with the client about how the building has been performing and we are pleased to hear it is performing really well and has been widely praised by staff, children and parents a like.

You can see some of the photos of the scheme below in the gallery.

Meet – The Team

We recently had a series of new headshots taken for the website and wanted you to meet the team of Devlin Architects Ltd. The photos were taken by the team at Image Development in St Neots – thank you to them!

The team:

Simon Devlin – Director / RIBA Chartered Architect.
Simon started the practice with Gemma McKenzie in 2015 and since then we have gone from strength to strength producing unique and architecturally challenging schemes such as the Eaton Socon Pre-school Building. Recently Simon was awarded the RIBA East Project Architect of the Year 2019 for his work on the pre-school building along with a RIBA East Regional Award.

Gemma McKenzie – Director / Non-Architectural.
Gemma works on all the editorial elements of our work and ensures Simon is grounded by offering a different perspective to the designs produced by the practice. Gemma also trained as a lawyer and therefore helps compose any necessary challenges to local planning departments. She is also undertaking a PhD at King’s College London and writes on topics such as public health and pregnancy rights.

Darren Silk – Part 1/2 Architectural Assistant.
Darren recently joined the practice and is currently finishing his studying at Part 2 level at the University of Lincoln School of Architecture. Darren has been working on several new residential projects in the office and has added to the wealth of knowledge and experience the practice has to offer. In his spare time he is also renovating his own house using traditional techniques and materials to ensure a high quality finish.

RIBA East Awards

WE WON TWO AWARDS AT RIBA EAST AWARDS 2019!!

We attended the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) East Architecture Awards in May 2019 as our Eaton Socon Preschool Building was shortlisted for an award. The RIBA awards celebrate the best of British architecture and we attended knowing that the shortlist contained a great deal of wonderful projects from well established and respected architecture practices. We were therefore absolutely ecstatic to walk away with not one – but two – awards!

Our first was a RIBA East Regional award where we received some fantastic feedback from the judges. As you can see from this link, the standard of competition was exceptionally high. Our second award was for RIBA East Project Architect of the Year 2019 for our Director – Simon Devlin – who received amazing remarks for his commitment and effort relating to the project.

We were shocked and overjoyed with the awards and grateful for the recognition. We want to thank all of the design team, the client team and the contractor for their hard work and commitment to the project in making this scheme possible. Onwards and upwards!

The full comments from the judges are as follows:

EATON SOCON PRE-SCHOOL BUILDING:
In architectural terms, this was very much a one person show and demonstrated the demands placed on a sole trader at the start of their career in architectural practice. The concept designer, technical architect, project manager, planning advisor and telephone receptionist were all the same person.

A community pre-school project, surviving their inadequate and decrepit mobile classrooms, the architect was initially drawn in when his child was enrolled. Initial help developed and grew, throughout an epic journey that saw funding come and go, planning get mired and the chilling discovery on site of a redundant MoD refuelling pipe, to pick out just a few highlights from the project narrative.

Entrance is via a frontal courtyard, perfect for parents bringing their children for drop-off. Receiving staff can be easily seen and the children immediately engage with the large open play space filled with their friends. Entrance to the building for visitors is by the office on the end of one of the arms of a ‘U’ shaped plan. This is perfect planning, as the visitor is immediately welcomed by the school secretary in a strategic location that has two horizontal panoramic windows. The visitor can be tracked up to the entrance, and all the activities in the play courtyard remain under gentle, but constant surveillance.

A ‘U’ shaped plan works very nicely, with each arm of the ‘U’ forming a large classroom, all three of which can be opened into one flowing space. Stores, toilets and wet areas are tucked discreetly into the corners, allowing the three teaching spaces to dominate. A row of central glulam columns aligned with the ridge of the pitched roof, rather than interfering with the large open classrooms provide a nice architectural division, so more intimate reading, doing-and-playing sub-spaces can be created with furniture and cushions. Although lofty, the classrooms have achieved a child’s scale.

From the outside the building disguises the range of very cost effective materials that had to be used in a dark-grey-to-black unifying cloak. Routed slots have been cut in the darkened timber cladding, avoiding the clutter of screwed-on metal plates and other fittings. Despite the budget palette of materials, the result is a unified look and feel, which is brought to life with sparing use of bright colours in the window reveals. At a distance these bright colours look like a powder coated metal, they are so striking in the dark visual field; but in fact the effect has been achieved with a translucent stain. Again, the architect has managed to get maximum effect from very ordinary materials.

So often architects put their heart and soul into a project and get little thanks for it. Here the client is delighted with all they have gained from the brilliant management of a very low budget. Recognition is due for the dedicated and sophisticated design thinking that has made so much from so little.