Prefabs are not always square
30 March 2011
Creative use of prefabrication and modular construction can improve quality, reduce disruption and deliver buildings more quickly.
Modular construction is associated with ‘mobile’ classrooms that adorn schools up and down the country. Such buildings have an important role to play in solving short term requirements, but are not designed as the long term solution which unfortunately they often become!
However, ‘offsite’ modular prefabricated construction techniques can also provide long term permanent solutions. Where considered at an early stage, they can overcome a number of key constraints in school building construction. At Pinner Park Junior School, LOM designed a prefabricated building to overcome logistical difficulties and reduce the impact on the operation of the school. The approach has the added benefit of achieving a high quality finish produced in controlled factory conditions, whilst reducing overheads associated with time spent on site.
The oval shaped pod at Pinner Park creates a central ICT hub and specialist music facility at the heart of the school. It forms part of a longer term masterplan that will eventually enclose the space around the pod to create a glazed lightwell for informal gatherings and group work beyond the classroom.