Kirk Balk – Education Projects – Allford Hall Monaghan Morris

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In integrating an Adult Learning Centre and a range of community co-located services into an already compact school building, Kirk Balk Community College works harder for longer. On a hilltop site in the Barnsley suburb of Hoyland, a four-storey triangle is attached to a two-storey rectangle via a glazed walkway spine. Inside the main building, a large, top-lit atrium centres the plan and accommodates the school’s 1,200 students. It’s wrapped by generously-sized staircases and walkways-as-breakout spaces to exploit the volume. Externally, the school’s landscape acts as an extension of the learning experience, providing a wide-variety of outdoor rooms and surfaces that encourage students to engage with their outdoor environment. The link between landscape and building is further enhanced with teaching spaces that open onto the external balconies, terraces and walkways.