BSF Prison

[TechMonkey]

They have obviously taken a nto from the Simpson. No-one ever seen the episode where the shcool is used to house convicts? Use the same design for both prison and school and they become "multi-purpose workspaces". & then if the school fails with minimum building work the site can be converted

 

All seems sensible to me.

[torledo]

The design brief from HM Govt to the architects from the very beginning of BSF was to make an impact.... this rapidly became an design exercise where form is more important than function....

 

In a planning meeting with the architects I once suggested that the most effective way of designing a school would be to built a 'shed' (DIY superstore type building) where internal walls & services could be re-deployed as the curriculum needs changed. The architects response was "it wouldn't look pretty & we wouldn't get any awards....."

 

I reckon a shed type building would be a hell of a lot more cost effective, i'd imagine they'd be a lot cheaper to heat and cool with space heaters rather than expensive and higher maintenance air conditioning or water heated systems.

[Andrew_C]

I reckon a shed type building would be a hell of a lot more cost effective,

It would be a terrible place to work; no natural light and think of the noise!

 

We still have a big "School Room" where the whole school was taught in one room, the acoustics are vile for any other use.

[broc]

Natural light is fine... in theory, it depends upon how it is delivered...

 

We have a so-called 21st century classroom, built 5 years ago. It has so much natural light that you cannot use an Interactive whiteboard or projector. The building is aligned east/west, so at certain times of the year when the sun is low you are blinded. It has a 'natural' ventilation system, and electric underfloor heating. It takes the heating 2 days to get the building comfortable .... shame the weather is not so predictable & of course its tough in winter when the heating is turned off over the weekend and does not get turned back on until Monday am. As for cooling during the summer, forget it, the pathetic roof venting system means everyone bakes.... you have to open the fire doors otherwise the kids faint...

 

We have other parts of the school (15-20 years old) with lots of natural light too. On a sunny day you cannot see their IWBs either.

 

Of course, we can expect the BSF architects to have learned from previous mistakes can't we?

[tech_guy]

Nah - it was only the trip switch... the caretaker wasn't allowed to flick it back on though - he had to fill in a form in triplicate using goat's blood extracted under a full moon whilst singing 'I'm a pink toothbrush, you're a blue toothbrush'.

This he had to submit on the next working day (measured in Botswana time).

The request was duly processed by a team of engineers over the next 36 hours... oooppps, sorry, days. Each engineer being on a salary of 3 times that of the caretaker.

Eventually he got permission to flick the trip switch back on, only to find that there had been a general election in the meantime and his new school would be moving back into it's old premises so the new one could become a prison.

 

 

Lol, ace post -really funny!

[broc]

I once visited a PFI school, they had to pay extra to use equipment such as LCD projectors for meetings or revision lessons outside normal school hours. Also, if they stuck anything on the wall such as posters or display work they were liable for repair to any damage to the paintwork.....

 

The same school was built with just one double 13A socket to provide all power for their Server room/Telephone switchboard.