Despite St Paul’s prestigious and storied past, their 1960s junior school building was tired and reaching the end of its design life. We designed a new home for St Paul’s Prep that better reflects the school and its riverside context, responding to the needs of future generations of pupils.

Before becoming the home of St Paul’s School in the 1960s, the site played host to a series of urban reservoirs, and the area still has a strong connection to the water. Located on the south bank of the River Thames just beyond Hammersmith Bridge, the immediate context includes nature reserves, the London Wetland Centre, and Chiswick Eyot, as well as the Castelnau conservation area.

We designed the new school to reflect this context, to inspire interest and curiosity in the natural world and to foster a strong connection to the local area. The two buildings, connected by a covered play “barn”, are clad in rich green ceramic, while the interiors bring nature in with calming blues and greens and energising yellows.

Both buildings are designed to suit the educational philosophy of St Paul’s Prep School, and respond to the ages of the pupils. The west building is for the younger boys and takes on a more playful form with classrooms organised around a semi-circular atrium with no long corridors. The east building has a more formal layout for the older boys transitioning to the adjacent senior school.

As well as providing much-needed space for St Paul’s Prep School to expand, the design builds in resilience with green roofing, photovoltaic panels, and rain gardens outdoors. In addition to the play barn and ball court overlooking the river, the exterior also includes a woodland playground and outdoor teaching space.