Guide to School Buildings
We've selected what we feel are the key examples of School Building Designs. We aim to include projects that are either of top quality or interesting, or ideally both.
We cover completed education buildings, new building designs, architectural exhibitions and architecture competitions across the world. The focus is on contemporary Education buildings but information on traditional buildings is also welcome.
We have 4 pages of School Architecture selections with links to many individual project pages.
School Buildings : news + key projects (this page)
School Building Developments A-E
School Building Designs : F-N
School Architecture : O-Z
School Building - Latest Designs
Education Architecture News arranged chronologically:
Maria Grazia Cutuli Primary School, Afghanistan

picture © AKAA / Nazes Afroz
Maria Grazia Cutuli School Building - 3 May 2013
This building has been shortlisted for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2013.
St Paul’s School Science Building, London, England
Design: Nicholas Hare Architects

photo : Alan Williams Photography
St Paul’s School Building - 29 Apr 2013
The science departments at St Paul’s School have just moved into their new building, which was handed over in January 2013. NHA were appointed in 2006 to develop the whole school masterplan proposed by Patel Taylor on its prominent riverside site in Barnes.
Trumpington Community College Building, Cambridge, England
Design: Avanti Architects

image from architects
Trumpington Community College Building - 23 Apr 2013
Trumpington Community College will provide places for 750 students and be at the heart of Clay Farm, an urban extension to the south of Cambridge, as 4,000 new homes are built over the next decade. When the new five-form-entry school – which will specialise in science – opens in September 2015, students will be welcomed into a 21st century learning environment.
The Infinity Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Design: McBride Charles Ryan

photo : John Gollings
The Infinity Centre - 22 Apr 2013
The idea of infinite learning became the mantra. Radiating out from the library, along the length of the form, are specialist precincts and a variety of learning spaces. Each wing of the building then returns to link up, forming cloisters and the resulting plan of an infinity symbol. Being structured around two protected courtyards has enhanced the learning space’s access to light, ventilation and view.
School by the Lagoon, Sri Lanka
Architects: Chinthaka Wickramage Associates

photo from architects
Sri Lankan School Building - 12 Apr 2013
The Two thousand Four boxing day tsunami was the worst natural disaster to hit Sri Lanka in living memory. For a country already reeling from a two and a half decade old war the timing of the tsunami could not have been worse. The East and South coasts of Sri Lanka were totally devastated with 40,000 human casualities in addition to the colossal damage caused to the road network, bridges, harbours, schools etc.
College CEBES - Porto School Building, Portugal
Design: OVAL - Avelino Oliveira, architects

photo : Joao Morgado
Portuguese School Building - 10 Apr 2013
A group of buildings for the new facilities of the College Cebes (secondary school), which is situated in Foz do Douro, in the municipality of Porto. The project proposes a building that is based on the integration in the surrounding environment characterized by single-family luxury homes, volumes somewhat fragmented, with balconies and rooftops.
Newlands School, London, England
Design: Wright & Wright Architects

photograph : James Brittain
Newlands School Building - 12 Mar 2013
This is a Special Educational Needs School, a 3175 sq m new-build Special Educational Needs (SEN) school that is specifically designed for children with Social, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties (SEBD). Located in the London Borough of Southwark, Newlands School is one of the last projects to be built through the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme.
School Building in Frederikshavn, Jutland, Denmark
Design: Arkitema Architects

photo : Kontraframe
Jutland School Building - 11 Mar 2013
This building's star shape gives an optimum background for natural ventilation and easy access to the playground. The school has two floors for the older students and one floor for the smallest children. On top of the lower level we have placed a roof terrace with 750 m2 of solar panels making it possible for the school to reach low energy class 2020 according to the Danish building code (roughly equivalent to LEED gold).
Ecole Bobigny, Paris, France
Design: Mikou Design Studio

image from architect
Bobigny School Building - 5 Mar 2013
The city centre school in Bobigny is in a strategic urban location, bounded by three large streets and by a pedestrian space on the north. It is in the middle of an urban complex mainly composed of housing, near the city hall. Therefore this new school is a visually remarkable amenity, visible by its façades and its roof, a founding element of the project onto which the openings of the neighbouring dwellings face.
Lycée René Goscinny, Alpes-Maritimes, southern France
Design: José Morales architecte

photo : Philippe Ruault
Lycée René Goscinny - 22 Feb 2013
The project site is part of an already settled area where valleys have been deeply sculpted by water over time. The building has been designed to reflect the story of that environment and seeks to tie in with all of these interwoven rich territories. It nestles into the land by unfolding on the slope along the dry-stone walls adding a new chapter to this region’s history; one that reflects its natural background, its constraints and its identity.
Los Nogales School Buildings, Bogotá, Colombia
Design: Daniel Bonilla Arquitectos

photo : Rodrigo Davila
Los Nogales School Buildings - added 2 Jan 2013
Los Nogales School's Chapel, is conceived based on human life’s dualities. A pure and elemental prism represents the pureness, the essential and the harmony. The various volumes and cracks that this prism suffers represent the spiritual sense in human lives, therefore harmony's alterations.
JDT Primary School, North Kerala, south west India
Design: Collaborative Architecture

images from architect
JDT Primary School - 16 Nov 2012
The project is part of JDT Islam campus, the very first Muslim orphanage in India situated in a quaint village in north Kerala, India. Formed in early 50s, the orphanage carried its legacy of philanthropic goodwill to orphans from around the country over the years. Unfortunately the built-environment was not a priority for major part of its existence resulting in highly disparage styles and mediocre buildings on the campus.
Dagenham Park School, east London, England
AHMM

image : Tim Soar / AHMM
Dagenham Park School - 31 Oct 2012
Dagenham Park Church of England School is one of the final BSF projects to be delivered. It replaces a number of outdated buildings with a new performing arts teaching building within a unified campus of the retained Sports Centre and D&T Building. The overall budget for the project was £22.6m which represents genuine value and the creation of a major new asset for the school and local community.
Claude Bernard School, Paris, France
Atelier d’Architecture Brenac & Gonzalez

photo © Sergio Grazia
Claude Bernard School - 29 Oct 2012
Despite the surface area of the lot, its location near the canal provides very interesting poetic potential. So that the children can benefit fully from the location and enjoy the views, we have created two frontages, one north-facing, and the other south-facing. Along the Boulevard Mac Donald, a three-storey block forms a screen that protects the playground, reduces noise pollution, and provides a sense of depth when you stand on the front courtyard and look through the foyer to the playground.
Binh Duong School, Vietnam
Design: Vo Trong Nghia Architects

photograph : Hiroyuki Oki
Binh Duong School - 27 Aug 2012
Binh Duong, a new city 30 minutes away from Ho Chi Minh City, has a typical tropical climate all year round. The site is located in the middle of a flourishing forest...people are in harmony with the nature, making the border between the inside and the outside ambiguously. The architects tried to embed the building into the site by delivering Vietnam-orientated generous spirit of natural land into the school design.
N. Zahles Upper Secondary School, Copenhagen, Denmark
Architect: Rørbæk og Møller Arkitekter ApS

photo © Adam Mørk
Upper Secondary School Building - 23 Jul 2012
Rørbæk & Møller Architects have designed and project managed the extension of the N. Zahles Upper Secondary School. Over a period of more than 150 years, the N. Zahles Upper Secondary School has held a prominent position within the education of children and young adults. With the new extension positioned on the rooftop of the preservation-worthy main building, Zahles is reconfigured to meet the future with modern educational facilities.
School Buildings
Key Educational Architecture Developments, alphabetical:
A P Møller School, Germany
Arkitektfirmaet C. F. Møller

photo : Julian Weyer
A P Møller School
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Bilger Breustedt school, Munich, Germany
Design: Dietmar Feichtinger Architectes

image from Dietmar Feichtinger Architectes
Taufkirchen School
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The Bridge Academy, Hackney, London, UK
BDP

image © Martine Hamilton Knight
The Bridge Academy
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Evelyn Grace Academy, London, UK
Zaha Hadid Architects

photograph © Adrian Welch
Evelyn Grace Academy
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Fuji Kindergarten, Japan
Tezuka Architects

building photograph : Katsuhisa Kida
Fuji Kindergarten
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Hazelwood School, Glasgow, Scotland
gm+ad architects

photo : Andrew Lee
Hazelwood School
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Michael Faraday Community School, UK
Alsop Sparch, Architects

photograph : Morley von Sternberg
Michael Faraday Community School
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Nigel Peck Centre, Melbourne, Australia
John Wardle Architects

picture from architects
Melbourne School Building
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School in Campinas, Brazil
UNA arquitetos

image : Nelson Kon
School in Campinas, São Paulo state
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School in Paspels, Switzerland
Valerio Olgiati

building photo © Archive Olgiati
Paspels School Building
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Thor Heyerdahl School, Larvik, Norway
Schmidt Hammer Lassen

picture from architects
Thor Heyerdahl School |
Westminster Academy, London, UK
Allford Hall Monaghan Morris

photograph © Tim Soar
Westminster Academy Naim Dangoor Ctr. |
More School Buildings online soon
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