Comparison Of Shepley Fist School And Shelley College

Over time the use of buildings changes and so do their users requirements. Despite still sharing the same key functions with certain rooms, over time the layout of these spaces changes. There are many factors which can determine the form of buildings and in this essay I will be exploring the difference between two educational institutions, built in different centuries under very different socio-cultural, political and technological contexts. The two buildings which I will be analysing are Shepley Fist School (1896) and Shelley College (Originally Shelley Secondary Comprehensive then Shelley High School (1974)). The two buildings are very different in their forms and through this essay I will be discussing the factors which contributed to the

The school was designed with rich embellishments and ornamentation which created an ornate façade to show the status of the building in the village. The building was designed with a “Two-storey central hall surrounded by single storey classrooms, three of which run across the front and have the main entrances between.” (English Heritage 1984). The school building was constructed in a traditional manner with stone load bearing walls and large wooden hammer beam roof spans in the main hall. The school was designed with large windows to allow for a maximum amount of natural light to enter, as artificial light at the time was poor and provided by gas lamps, meaning the school’s façade is full of large windows with walls having an even split of masonry and glazing. The school was originally split into infants and juniors, and pupils studied here originally until aged 13 where they went off to work, or grammar school. The school was built in a time where gender separation was still very much a part of life and so the design incorporated a separate boys and girls entrance on the front of the school to keep the boys and girls separate during the junior part of their education. Victorian school design features can clearly be seen in the building such as the height of the windows off the floor to minimise the distraction of the pupils in lessons, creating high window sills. Due to concrete and steel lintels not being developed until later, the school only utilises stone lintels meaning the windows are tall and thin. The main windows in the hall use stone arches to allow for larger spans than the classroom windows. The school has internal windows on the south facing front to allow the corridors to borrow light from the classrooms which benefit from large amounts of natural light. The larger junior classrooms are all orientated towards a wall which originally had a large