The Skinners’ School, Royal Tunbridge Wells, UK
Established in 1887, The Skinners’ School was founded by its namesake London livery company in response to local demand. Now, again responding to the changing demands of the area, Bell Phillips Architects has added a refined brick building that sits alongside the 19th-century schoolhouse. The expansive main stairway and the double-height library are lined with Red Grandis timber creating a warm and captivating learning environment.
Sharana Daycare Facility, Puducherry, India
Built to nurture social progress as well as promote education among disadvantaged groups in the city of Puducherry in southeast India, the Sharana Daycare Facility’s design is as holistically considered as its ethos. Designed by Anupama Kundoo Architects, it features porous terracotta screens that aid natural ventilation and filter in light. With lightweight partitions, the centre is highly adaptable and easy to maintain.
School by a School, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
Designed as a series of learning clusters, School by a School is a project in the northern Netherlands. Each classroom feels connected to its neighbours. At the heart of this education building is the brickwork façade of an original structure designed in the 1920s and a timber-lined atrium. Catering for a wide age-range, the design by De Zwarte Hond and Studio Nauta emphasises transparency, connection and collaboration.
dezwartehond.nl; studionauta.com
Erdu Primary School, Deqing, China
Spread across a vast campus of 8,864 sq m, the Erdu Primary School by architectural designers Qiu Jiayu and Paul Mok, is highly modular, with units formed of a teacher’s office and a conjoined classroom. The units are all linked by a sinuous, open circulation system. Located in Deqing, a rural town near Hangzhou, the school serves as a model for how affordable, but high-quality education spaces could be introduced to rural China to serve smaller communities.
Universidad Carolina, Saltillo, Mexico
Encircled by walnut trees and pines, Universidad Carolina emerges from a small wooded plot. The design by Taller Arquitectónico and Roma212 with Yolanda Ceballos includes an exposed concrete structure and infill panels in a deep russet-toned brick. Celebrating its lush surroundings in Saltillo, northern Mexico, the stepped mass was arranged according to the positions of trees on onsite. The play of light through the leaves adds to the sensory pleasure of walking through arcade, which threads across the main façade.
roma212.com; tallerarquitectonico.com; yolandaceballos.com
David Brownlow Theatre, Berkshire, UK
David Brownlow Theatre by Jonathan Tuckey. Photography: Nick Dearden
Commissioned to enhance the arts curriculum at the Horris Hill School in Newbury, Jonathan Tuckey’s David Brownlow Theatre is a play in three parts: refinement, utility and sustainability. The 160-seat auditorium is clad in earthy-red wood fibre panelling and its entrance is framed by a grand, double-storey timber portico. The stripped-back interior features exposed CLT framework interspersed with beech battens of varying depths. Every part of this passively ventilated education building was considered to reduce wastage, keeping in check the project’s overall carbon footprint.
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Classic New York restaurants for delicious food and inspired designFrom Michelin-starred fine dining to reimagined retro diners, these are the most emblematic (and easy-on-the-eye) places to eat in the Big Apple
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Ten super-cool posters for the Winter Olympics and Paralympics have just been unveiledThe Olympic committees asked ten young artists for their creative take on the 2026 Milano Cortina Games
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A local architect’s guide to AccraAlice Asafu-Adjaye, founder of architecture studio Mustard, describes the Ghanaian capital as spicy, colourful and loud. Here’s how to tap into its contagious energy
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River Wing at Clare College responds to its historic Cambridge heritageUniversity of Cambridge opens its new River Wing on Clare College Old Court, uniting modern technology with historic design
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UCL East Marshgate seeks to redefine the university campus of the futureUCL East Marshgate by Stanton Williams is completed and gears up to welcome its students in east London
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St Catharine’s College social hub in Cambridge reimagined by Gort ScottGort Scott's design for St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, gives a sensitive facelift to a much loved, bustling campus
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Two Hands nursery by vPPR is where design flair meets sustainabilityTwo Hands nursery in London, designed by vPPR, mixes colourful interiors and sustainable architecture elements with wellbeing in mind
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SANAA’s Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design is designed to connect with the heart of JerusalemSANAA and local studio HQ Architects design new home for Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem's city centre
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Connected Rural Classroom reimagines learning space architectureA collaboration between design studio Kurani and nonprofit Ed Farm reimagines learning spaces through virtual teaching with the Connected Rural Classroom
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DS+R Prior Performing Arts Center is designed as a public commonsPrior Performing Arts Center by Diller Scofidio + Renfro completes at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts
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Mérida university architecture draws on the local climateIgnacio Urquiza Arquitectos completes the new home for the School of Business and Banking, located to the north of Mérida, Mexico
