School Reception Redesign and Refurbishment.
A reception redesign for Weald of Kent Grammar School in Kent has proved to be an instant success. The school reception design and refurbishment by Fusion Classroom Design has improved a school reception area that was both outmoded and more importantly didn’t give secure control of access to the main school building. The layout for the outer and inner entrance doors also left something to be desired in terms of ease of travel particularly for wheelchair access despite the floor levels being even or properly ramped.
The initial survey identified a number of areas for improvement alongside the critical instruction to create the secure school reception lobby layout. The old reception was rather unwelcoming and although it did have a secure deliveries area this wasn’t easy to access. A new design re-thought the layout entirely and a simple, clear, reception design solution devised.
An aspect of the new reception design that isn’t obvious from the design visual is the traffic flow for visitors and staff. From the new automatic sliding door its instantly clear that visitors should walk directly up to the school reception desk. For staff its easy to peel off towards the inner lobby doors. This seperation helps to speed up foot traffic and ensures the area immediately in front of the desk isn’t a bottleneck, but the reception staff still have clear visibility in the key directions and visibility of the waiting area. Access card controls are positioned just beside the inner lobby doors where teaching staff can log in.
The School Reception design scheme.
The design scheme itself is a crisp monochrome palette with practical hardwearing finishes and an integral high quality level. Spot colour on the desk, and with the school logo behind, adds to the wayfinding and visual focus. A hardwearing entrance matting carpet tile is used in the new lobby and corridor beyond with conventional carpet behind the reception desk. The finishes are easily refreshed, timeless and simple. These images don’t show a large screen based display in the corridor, visible from reception, where the School displays aspects of its activities. The glass partition lets this display show through even though its positioned outside the secure reception lobby and for this reason the clean uncluttered reception is the right design approach.
An image of the old reception helps to illustrate the significant change. The school reception redesign presents a much more up-to-date image and first impression as well as giving all the practical upgrades set out within the design brief. A roller shutter has been incorporated to ensure the reception can be effectively secured after school hours and the reception desk has a defined point for DDA sign-in. During the school reception refurbishment a column was found to be purely for cable routes and had no structural purpose whatsoever. Removing the column improves the circulation space even further.
The school reception refurb project was started at the beginning of August and completed well before the start of term. Mark Bacon, site supervisor for Weald, expressed his surprise and delight that so much work was completed in less than 4 weeks, exactly as our program stated.
Get in contact with Fusion Classroom Design to start the design process for your school reception area or see more of our school reception redesign work and furniture on the ‘Reception and Office’ page and other blog entries.
