Zoe Berman and Benedetta Rogers create a room for books within a primary school playground
Designed by Zoe Berman (Studio Berman) with Benedetta Rogers (Studio ROST), the Reading Retreat is a quiet space within the busy playground of Stoneydown Park Primary School, Walthamstow, north-east London.
The intention was to provide an informal learning space, in addition to the main indoor reading facilities, to “provide children with a wide range of reading experiences”, promote books as things of pleasure, and connect reading experiences more closely to play. The Parents and Teachers Association initially approached makers at Blackhorse Workshop – a local public studio space dedicated to making and mending – with a brief to enclose an open-sided lean-to and build a new deck beneath the existing canopy. Berman – whose practice was then based at the workshop – took on the project, and with collaborator Rogers designed a more substantial structure including a raked seating area with book storage beneath, which could be prefabricated at the Blackhorse Workshop site and delivered within the limited budget. (The £7000 raised by the PTA was supplemented by a National Lottery grant of £9,000, and the donation of £4,000 worth of materials by the Jewson Building Better Communities initiative).
The Reading Retreat is constructed from joinery grade pine and clad with corrugated polycarbonate. The timbers were pre-cut and pre-drilled off-site, and the screw-holes finished with over 250 pre-made wooden plugs, flush-cut after assembly on site. The seated area is painted in soft shades of green to tie in with the tones of the existing school cladding
“The project connects local skills and knowledge and is unusual in having been led by an almost wholly female team,” says Berman, “from the client Kirsty O’Brien, to structural engineer Fiona Cobb, and fabricators Christina French and Lua Garcia with furniture-maker Toby Poolman. The women-led team offers an important example to young people, in a school that is highly diverse and supports pupils from a range of backgrounds”.
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