Its a very low-budget, very simple, modest project, notes Steve Fox, director at Manalo & White, about the new classroom block at Heathlands School in St Albans that the practice has designed in collaboration with deaf-led architecture firm Richard Lyndon Design and which is intended to set a new benchmark for design in deaf education.Despite greater awareness about deafness and accessibility, specialised educational facilities for deaf children, particularly in the UK, continue to disappear. In recent years, one in 10 of these facilities has closed, resulting in one in four local councils lacking any dedicated resources for deaf students. At present there are only 22 schools for deaf children across the UK.As one of the largest, Heathlands caters from nursery-age pupils up until sixth form, with some students living on the premises. Given the national decline in resources, theres growing pressure on facilities like Heathlands to further increase capacity. AdvertisementIn its case, intake has had to expand from 110 to 153 over the past five years, added to which the school is also having to address the deaf attainment gap. In an Education Policy Institute paper last year focusing on English and Maths at GCSE, this was estimated to have been as much as 17.5 months in 2019 similar to that faced by socio-economically disadvantaged pupils. With scant resources available, many students have to travel from far and wide to attend Heathlands. There are few other places for students to go, sighs co-headteacher Lesley Reeves Costi.The new Heathlands extension is stitched into the existing complex with a perceptive understanding of the senses at the crux of its conception. Located in a quiet suburb of St Albans, the original 1970s building is a purpose-built deaf school consisting of a collection of low-rise, two-storey buildings, their sandy-coloured brick and pitched roofs evoking a sense of quaint domesticity.Inside, Reeves Costi points out the shortcomings of the original design. Despite being intended for deaf use, the limitations imposed by the architecture are clear: bottlenecks, harsh lighting and sharp corners make it hard to maintain eye contact and to lip-read. It is an inconvenience which is amplified when the school is at full capacity. The original brief called for a first-floor extension to be added to an existing single-storey block. However, going back to the drawing board, the initial concept was reimagined in the context of the whole site, which resulted in a new stand-alone building, which, Fox says, offered an opportunity to better utilise the space, with less disruption. Matching the scale of the surrounding architecture, the new two-storey building provides six new classrooms but with radically updated ideas about designing for deaf use. The design takes a profoundly sensory approach to the detailing, which is not immediately easy to identify but which forefronts tactile experience.DeafSpace principles are at the core of the design, a set of guidelines developed at Gallaudet University in Washington DC, the worlds first university for deaf people, and a leading institution in advocating for better design for those with disabilities. The principles aim to create environments that are not only accessible to people who are deaf but also to accommodate those with varying levels of sensory reach. On entering the grounds of the school, for instance, bright yellow railings flicker through the foliage, their vivid colour finish easily visible from a range of distances. AdvertisementReeves Costi explains: For a deaf person, colour is really important, as a lot of students also have a sensitivity to light. In like manner, yellow-framed windows pop against the new buildings soft green faade panels, while its pitched roof draws upon a visual language of domesticity, recalibrated here in a playful and contemporary form.Taking cues from artists Bernd and Hilla Bechers Fachwerkhuser series of photographs of half-timbered houses from the 1960s and 70s, decorative timber batons are spaced to match the standard sizes of the green fibre cement panels on the elevations, speaking to an ethos of simplicity. Using humble materials, the faade treatment breaks down the volume of the building into digestible parts. It is a useful cue for pupils with visual impairments, helping them recognise the depth of the buildings by the linear patterns which break up the massing. The new addition sits detached from the existing building but is linked via a semi-covered outdoor space, which acts as an external corridor, allowing for visual connection to the outside and varying levels of enclosure.Fox says that, while he avoided the temptation to maximise the built area, it does require a certain amount of room to gather and a certain amount of distance to gesticulate and use your hands for signing. As a result, the built architecture prioritises visual connection and clear sightlines by placing value on transitional spaces. As Fox notes, The liminal spaces are equally as necessary as the building itself.Leading up to the top floor, an elevated balcony walkway screened off with polycarbonate links the new building with the pre-existing art block. A new lift makes the previously inaccessible accessible to those unable to use stairs. In accordance with DeafSpace principles, generous double-width stairs and wide walking routes allow pupils to communicate while traversing the site, encouraging spontaneous meetings to take place outside the classroom.Fox remarks: This gets said a lot, but we were really focused on how light works in the building. In particular, we were concerned with the quality of light in the spaces and the positioning of the windows. As it is a building that is only a single room deep, each classroom benefits from a dual aspect, encouraging diffuse light from multiple angles. This helps to reduce glare and silhouetting within the classrooms, conditions which prevent pupils from lip-reading effectively. Classroom interiors are finished in a soft blue, which allows occupants to see different ranges of skin tones with the best clarity. Classrooms are sized to allow for a horseshoe arrangement of classroom tables, so pupils are face-to-face and no one is sitting at the back of the class. Control of sound is critical. Using new technology, the ceiling-mounted natural ventilation with heat recycling (NVHR) systems ventilate each classroom silently, eliminating the auditory strain that is caused by background noise from open windows.There are few examples of architecture that fully integrate DeafSpace principles, and Reeves Costi emphasises the importance of incorporating these considerations into design more broadly. How many children are affected by conditions like glue ear? Or how many individuals lose their hearing later in life? Its crucial to have those natural elements in buildings, she says. Many of the design principles also have broader application in making spaces more accessible to a wider range of users. Such subtle architectural interventions can have profound impacts on the day-to-day experience of socialising and also navigating spaces independently.Heathlands Schools new block incorporates many subtle features that can be implemented in design not just for deaf people but for the sake of offering a wider scale of inclusion. They could easily read solely as aesthetic flair to the untrained eye. But in its quiet style the architecture here reconciles both inclusivity and aesthetics in an earnest and honest support to the senses.Teshome Douglas-Campbell is an architectural designer, alumnus of the New Architecture Writers programme and founding member of PATCH CollectiveProject dataStart on siteJuly 2023CompletionMarch 2024Gross internal floor area250m2 (includes new and adapted existing)Construction cost850,000Construction cost per m23,400ArchitectManalo & WhiteClientHeathlands SchoolStructural engineerengineersHRWM&E consultantXCO2Quantity surveyorOmniumMain contractorGemstone