In 2010 Walters & Cohen was appointed by the Godolphin & Latymer School to develop a masterplan for its site. The school had a number of ambitions for improving its facilities, and in 2013 instructed us to proceed with a state-of-the-art sports building.
The existing sports hall dated from 1950 and was undersized for many sports, some of which are important to the school and its identity, such as trampolining, badminton, basketball, indoor hockey, cricket and netball.
The new sports building meets the constraints of a tight, sensitive site in a conservation area, and is within the curtilage of listed buildings. It provides a four-court sports hall, climbing wall, a fitness suite and dance studio, along with classroom and office facilities.
The fabric of the building allows for natural ventilation and daylight while creating optimum conditions for a wide variety of sports. External elevations are articulated with a series of alternating vertical brick recesses and perforated bronze screens obscuring linear window and louvre openings, and the brick complements the materiality of existing buildings.
