Tring Park School Boarding House

While a number of students at the school were already boarders, the primary desire for a new boarding house was to bring onto the school campus those who were living in smaller boarding houses in the town.

In addition, there was pressure on art and drama teaching spaces, and an improved theatre technical workshop was urgently needed. A new building, now named Elizabeth House, was needed to accommodate around 70 pupils, two staff flats, two art rooms and three drama rooms as well as a theatre workshop.

The architectural language of the new building mediates between the solid brick mass of the adjacent 1980s teaching block and the landscape of mature trees. A metal cladding – natural brass that will change from a bright yellow to a dark bronze colour – is a no-maintenance, long-life and recyclable material. To provide a layered appearance which links visually with the dance studios, as well as in places offer some solar protection, a screen of Scottish-sourced western red cedar was placed in front of the metal. This plays a significant part in the experience of the building from the inside also, as the trees of the landscape outside are seen through a layer of randomly sized and spaced, squared weathering timber.

The students nick-named the building ‘Bling House’ as at first the brass cladding was rather gold-like in appearance, but this has quickly dulled down to a deep bronze colour.

Internally, the arrangements of the three upper floors allow the building to ‘go to sleep’ from the top down. Junior years are arranged in dormitories on the upper levels progressing to sixth formers located in single study bedrooms at ground level. Each level has its own social common room and kitchen areas.