RSGC Junior and Middle School

The renovation of the Junior and Middle School at Royal S. George’s College was one of Farrow Partners’ first educational projects. In the first of six phases of work on the RSGC campus, an old gymnasium has been transformed into a dining hall. The modest rectangular volume was pierced at the top with a long, thin skylight. Below, two half-petal-shaped timber ceilings are raised slightly upward toward the center towards the skylight. A triangular web of timber beams overlays and supports the ceiling, radial in pattern and growing in spacing and length from the outer edges toward the center. Between the petals and the skylight are timber beams, placed parallel to one another and running perpendicular to the main axis of the dining hall. This layering of elements creates a condition where alternative views and interpretations of volume can occur; consciously and subconsciously allowing one to become sensorially immersed in the spatial experience.

The middle school common space below the dining hall continues the spatial exploration of positive ambiguity and natural bodily affordances. Linear and curved forms populate the generous classroom spaces, creating an engaging and vibrant learning environment. The bleacher-style seating at the back of the classroom swoops around to comfortably nestle students as straight wood-veneer lighting bands stretch across the ceiling to bring warmth into the lower level of the facility.