A forward-looking school has been designed to facilitate the Royal Grammar School Guildford’s innovative approach to teaching and learning while utilising eco-friendly design modifications to ensure that the building is a sustainable hub. Located within Majid Al Futtaim’s flagship Dubai community Tilal Al Ghaf – which also includes residential, commercial, leisure and retail elements.
The impressive campus is set over approximately 40,000 sqm, with classrooms, labs and other learning spaces linked by a beautiful ‘street’ concept featuring a lush, central atrium of trees, plants and living ‘biophilic’ walls.
The ‘street’ serves as a communal hub and breakout space for pupils as well as an extension of every classroom, providing a thoroughly modern and flexible learning environment with nature at its heart to reinforce pupil wellbeing. There will also be a 500+ seat, multi-purpose auditorium, an impressive double-storey library, a multi-functional sports facility including a 25-metre swimming pool, a smaller learning pool and a full-size football pitch.
The campus design seeks to maximise the school’s sustainability and provide an environment that aids children and staff wellness. The stepped design of the main building, with each successive floor expanding outwards, ensures the classrooms are self-shaded from the year-round Dubai sunshine, mitigating solar impact. This smart design feature will also provide the younger children located at ground level with 27 Early Years and Primary classrooms with exterior and interior play areas. The Facility will also provide passive ventilation and biophilic elements, creating create a cool, comfortable learning environment that supports pupils in their studies.
Through a partnership with Total Solar Distributed General in the Middle East, the campus has also been designed to use solar energy to further enhance its sustainability initiatives. An 868 kWp rooftop and carpark solar installation will be constructed by Enerwhere and is expected to produce around 1.4 GWh per year. Additionally, this will result in positive environmental impacts by reducing the facility’s carbon emissions by approximately 629 metric tons per year. The facility is being constructed by Multiplex, a leading and award-winning global construction company who have been established in Dubai since 1997.
Another feature of the design was to reinforce the Dubai school’s strong links with its parent school in the UK. Among the visual references that honour the school’s 500-year history is the central atrium; in a modern interpretation of the original school’s historic courtyard, this open and dynamic space encourages interaction, enjoyment and wellness for pupils and teachers and also includes an extensive parent café. Similarly, the design of the large environmental canopy echoes the diamond structural motif of the leaded windows of the historic chained library in the parent school.
