Situated at the heart of an emerging community in West Silvertown, the new Oasis Academy provides a co-educational, all-inclusive secondary school for 600 students. Arranged as a multi-storey ‘superblock’ on the former fire station site, the building design incorporates outdoor social space at different levels and a full-sized sports pitch on its roof.
The site is surrounded by a mix of red brick residential properties, derelict industrial land and vast stretches of master-planned residential and commercial properties. These are all very different conditions with which the school knits together.
The warm white brickwork and large openings relate to the existing and new residential properties and to the monumental listed Silo D nearby. The thick external walls are folded to provide a layered façade in response to the elements. A colonnade to the North Woolwich Road acts as a visitor entrance and engenders a civic quality to the building, whilst the colourful lightweight infill at ground level allows for generous pedestrian movement and a deep threshold between the public domain and secure school environment.
The building has been designed using the DfE Output Specification alongside the BB103 Area Guidelines for Schools and achieves a BREEAM “Excellent” rating.
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"Our collaboration with Rivington Street Studio’s team has been enriched by our shared passion for exceptional education. Not only has their attention to detail shaped our building, it has also shaped a vibrant hub of learning and community engagement.”
Liz Bickerstaffe, Head of Strategic Projects, Oasis Community
