Lady Eleanor Holles School, Hampton, United Kingdom. Architect: Walters and Cohen Ltd, 2013.

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The architects have designed a large extension to provide new facilities for art, music and performance. Music provision is highly specialised, with music classrooms, practice rooms, a recording studio, music technology room, percussion room, and a timber-lined recital room that can accommodate solo or chamber group performances to an audience of around 100. The new theatre is a triple-storey volume for spoken word performances, with retractable bleacher seating for 300, and a walnut lining that creates a rich and pleasant environment. The art department on the first floor enjoys views over the playing fields. All four of the main teaching rooms benefit from good north light and receive daylight from two sides. An internal courtyard draws light into the deepest part of the plan on both floors; the circulation area that surrounds it makes a pleasant, serene atrium for independent study and art displays.