Brighton College Develops their Campus with Help from IQ Glass 

Highly regarded practices including Morphosis and Mecanoo were seen off by krft in a 2019 competition for the development and ultimately the glazing at Brighton College. IQ Projects provided glazing on this impressive project, installing a series of fire-rated glass screens and doors. Founded in 1845, changes to the original Victorian architecture of this independent boarding school have become increasingly ambitious, tracking the improving academic performance within.

Shooting from 147th to 15th in the Sunday Times’ best independent schools rankings, and named School of the Decade in 2020, its boosted profile has attracted the funding needed for excellent facilities. It follows then that they enlisted IQ Projects to help design and install the striking new glazing at Brighton College. 

Interestingly, krft was a young practice compared to its established competitors. Upgrading the facilities for performing arts and combining them within a single building was the goal, and their creative solution won them the project. Theirs was the only plan proposing to lift the dance studio onto a higher level.

Despite seeming counter-intuitive by imposing logistical challenges, it freed up the ground level to create consistency with the public areas surrounding it. James Taylor, one of the delivery architects, explains that “richer spaces result if you challenge conventions.” The location of this new building makes it a key hub of the campus.

Transparency frames a sense of performance throughout the building, highlighting their ethos of ‘seeing in and seeing learning’. As such, many examples of thoughtful glazing at Brighton College are worthy of study. Two double-height basement studios for dance and drama have high-level glazed windows, which allow people to peer down on the action from ground level:

Throughout the building, all studios and classrooms were given large picture-frame windows, making activities visible from the main public areas in and around the building but also giving daylight to all studios, including the theatre hall … oversized galleries allow students to participate in theatre production as well as performance – Thomas Dieben and Oscar Vos, krft.

The new glass screens IQ Projects installed also offer insight into more conventional teaching spaces. Through them, computer science labs and English classrooms are integrated into a more collaborative area. These large picture-frame windows also compose grandstand views of the playing fields. Naturally, the glass is built to resist as many cricket balls as possible.

Beyond a stylish building, it’s functional too. Clever window systems can be adjusted to form Juliet balconies, converting the rooms into well-ventilated loggias. In the theatre’s balconied interior, an oculus in the ceiling can be opened up, filling it with natural light during daytime rehearsals. Impressive carbon credentials result in part from the decision to place larger expanses of glazing on north and eastern facades, minimising overheating. Their internal glass doors are fire–rated, designed here at IQ Projects.

Do you need glazing for an educational building? From specifying systems, detailed design, supply along manufacture, to installation, give us a call today on +44 1494 722 880, or use this link to visit our showroom…