ANNA FREUD CENTRE LONDON

PENOYRE & PRASAD ARCHITECTS

“Our vision is a world in which children, young people and families are effectively supported through difficulties and enabled to build on their own strengths to achieve their goals in life.”  The AFC

This new building represents an opportunity to explore the ways that the educational, research, outreach and workspace functions of the Anna Freud Centre and The Family School can come together in a newly developed campus in Islington - efficiently, synergistically and joyfully. While it will have to accommodate all activities taking place in current facilities, the newly designed building also offers the opportunity to review how space is utilised, and how it could best support different ways of working. The centre will be home to a range of very different functions and activities that will all need levels of separation and integration.

The Rodney Street site brings on the one hand a rich history of its own, and on the other a relatively complex matrix of practical constraints. The design shall seek to respect the memory of the one hundred year old Chocolate Factory and exploit the character of that well-worn building to provide wonderful internal spaces and external backdrops for the new Anna Freud Centre.

While the lower part of the building will form a concrete plinth following the slope of the site, the upper floors’ construction will include exposed laminated timber beams. While adding to the feel of the interior and the perception of the building, this same timber will also be used for different interior elemtens such as balustrades and furniture.