Ashmount S.E.N.

Client: Leicestershire County Council + Willmott Dixon Construction Limited

Location: Loughborough, Leicestershire

Value: £9.3m

Contract: Design and Build

 

The school has been designed around the idea of using sensory simplicity to impact positively on the comfort and behaviour of the pupils, who have a range of disabilities. 

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The corridors are curved, with low ceilings to reduce the institutional feeling of the building. They are based around two contrasting courtyards to help the pupils to identify where exactly in the building they are, and where they need to go. Technology and Art rooms are situated to the western most end of the school, at the end of each curved corridor, to provide an exciting destination.

 

The classrooms benefit from high levels of natural light, and feature large overhanging eaves to protect from direct sunlight and glare.  Using high level windows in this way also reduces the views out of the classroom at low level, to provide less distractions caused by outside activity. 

 

The classrooms feature a small alcove to the front with a much lower ceiling height.  This provides a smaller, more intimate area which some of the children find easier to focus in, in comparison to the large ceiling height in the main classroom.