Community Arts and Education Centre

Kajans Women’s Enterprise work with adults, children and young people to deliver arts, education, enterprise, health and social welfare programmes. The brief emphasised the need to develop a hub, creating a live-work-learn environment for young local entrepreneurs struggling with start-ups and a place to live.

The site is a steep hill along a prominent highway into Birmingham, adjacent to the Grade II* listed school. The proposal responds to all the immediate constraints to create a flexible, multifunctional series of buildings arranged around a central open space. The design is environmentally conscious, incorporating renewable energy, water harvesting and passive strategies to reduce its carbon footprint and maintenance costs. The appearance and material palette responds to Birmingham’s rich industrial heritage, the history of the site itself and the adjacent listed school. It’s high thermal mass and robust acoustic properties help thermally regulate the buildings and mitigate noise from the adjacent highway.