This project was carried out as part of the government's Fresh Start programme to deal with schools in special measures. My architectural practice SCABAL, was engaged to work with the local authority on Amherst Primary School in Hackney, East London, to contribute to a series of measures that resulted in the reopening of the school as Brook Community Primary School. My work looked at how the tools of branding could be used in this scenario. This project saw the architectural design elements as part of the solution to the problem of the failing school i.e. as important as the teaching staff and structure of the organisation. The design therefore had to engage with the notion of broadcasting the right message to pupils, teachers and local parents if the school was to be removed from the special measures list.

The interventions made in this project are not those most often associated with architectural design i.e. the functional or structural but here, because of the use of branding techniques, have been called 'rhetorical'. These branding techniques are more commonly employed in the commercial or retail sector to promote brand values now more often called 'success drivers'. The project employs two key elements: a change of orientation, superseding the original 19th century gendered entrances on the street side to create a new entrance with its own identity, and using the form and colour of the extension to signal this new entrance it comprises a boldly asymmetrical, bright pink glass box.

The project required great rigour, increased by the pressures of working with an existing building, a demanding client and a limited budget. Novel working practices included negotiation with children and the teaching staff who would be using the spaces.