Orchard Room
Extension to the daycare facilities at Bognor Regis Nursery
Bognor Regis, 2011
Completed in 2011 for £185,000, the Orchard Room extended the daycare facilities at Bognor Regis Nursery School and created an innovative, inspiring space for children to play and learn in. Using a sympathetic and sensual material palette, together with a carefully considered colour scheme, the internal spaces make a playful connection to both their use and the wonderful external spaces and garden beyond.
Designed very much with the children in mind, windows drop down to allow views out to the vibrant garden beyond, cills become deep enough to form seats and ledges, and floors roll up walls to provide exciting, playful spaces for the children to use. The extension has been enthusiastically enjoyed by the staff, parents and, in particular, the children themselves; ‘Noah’s Ark’ has been adopted as a favourite space by all who use the Nursery.
The project’s brief formed part of a construction module brief for the students of Oxford Brookes Interior Architecture degree unit. Different prototypes for the compound curved wall were developed and explored in the joiner’s workshop to understand the construction process. This also ensured that the windows were set at the correct height to frame key views to and from the nursery’s garden, which forms a key part of the learning and developmental curriculum at the Nursery.
Location: Bognor Regis
Client: Bognor Regis Nursery School
Status: Completed (2011)
Design Team: Matthew Clay, Dr Andrea Placidi, Jack Jarrett
Structural engineer: Jonathan Apted Engineering
All joinery and finishes: Genuine Joinery
Main contractor: E A Chiverton
Awards: Architects' Journal Small Projects (2013)
Working with Matthew Clay Architects was a truly wonderful experience.
They are thorough, disciplined and rigorous, anticipating issues and managing them for you and fending off the stresses that a big building project causes. We could not be more delighted with the wonderful setting they have created for us.
Sian Rees-Jones OBE, Headteacher - Bognor Regis Nursery School