A new wing is set to open at the The Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children in Clerkenwell, London.
The only facility of its kind in the capital, the building has been extended, doubling the space for speech and language therapy sessions.
The improvement work was carried out by architecture practice, Barr Gazetas, on a small budget of just £250,000.
The new wing responds to the growing needs of the centre, which was named after the Monty Python member whose father had a stammer all his life. Its founders perceived that there was a deep need for the specially designed space in order to provide support and therapy for children who may live with a stammer for life.
Externally, Barr Gazetas wanted the new wing to fit neatly into its surroundings. The traditional banded brick elevation subtly references the adjacent Grade I listed church of Our Most Holy Redeemer.
Barr Gazetas director, Alistair Barr, led the project with the premise that good design would promote calm in the children and their parents.
“Clinical and institutional environments often have the effect of causing anxiety and stress, emotions that are particularly detrimental to speech and language therapy,” he said.
As a result of his own experience with the condition, Barr’s involvement in this small project went beyond a conventional response to a brief: he attended parent/child meetings and followed every step of the design and construction process to make sure that the best-possible space was provided for the young patients.
The result is a warm and calming space that significantly enriches the therapy process, with large windows allowing generous amounts of natural light into the interior, acoustic plasterboards making for a quiet environment, and a lively colour palette connecting with the young users.
The new 45sq m annex extended the capacity of the centre from 20 to 40 people and increased comfort and flexibility. Air conditioning throughout ensures optimal temperatures for therapy, and a sliding acoustic partition enables the main the room to be triscale for sessions of different sizes.
