Another Acoustic Installation by Artworks
Castle Park Primary School in Monmouthshire is the latest school to be benefiting from AcousticArt from Artworks Solutions. Castle Park Primary School's new extension consists of a brand new Learning Plaza accommodating 60 pupils.  The design of the plaza has been developed through consultation with the staff and students, Monmouthshire Council, the design team White Design Associates and the main contractor Willmott Dixon.  The innovative new Learning Plaza is one of the first school buildings in the UK to make use of prefabricated straw bale panels; the primary focus of the build was to increase sustainability whilst reducing its carbon footprint. Influences for materials have been taken from the School's and Council's request for sustainable and innovative technologies and deliberately contrast with those of the existing school.  A sound-absorbing ceiling has been used throughout in order to achieve an improvement in the intelligibility of speech. All the materials selected reduce the sound reverberation time within the building.  This is where Artworks came in. Following a workshop with the School Council, the Client and White Design, Artworks designed, manufactured and installed 13.5m2 of acoustic artworks, and in keeping with the School's nature theme the acoustic panels have been printed with leaf structures and colour-coordinated to match the environment.Sally Turner from Monmouthshire's 21st Century Schools Team first reaction to the AcousticArt was, "Wow, they look absolutely amazing!" Within the Learning Plaza, the space is divided into a number of zones for large and small group work, presentation & performance, light science and art. In addition there are two cloakroom areas, a quiet pod space, and internal storage.  The children and staff from Castle Park Primary will start benefiting from the new learning plaza when they start the new school year in September.