Design Engine Stowe School SouthView Crop

Stowe School Design Technology & Engineering Building submitted for planning

20 February 2020

The practice’s scheme for a new Design Technology & Engineering Building at Stowe School has been submitted for planning consent.

Stowe School has been based since its founding in 1923 in the historically recognised Stowe House site, formerly the seat of the Dukes of Buckingham and Chandos.

Following an invited design competition in 2016, we were subsequently commissioned to develop designs for the new Design Technology & Engineering Building for Stowe School to replace existing facilities.

The new building at Stowe will serve as the creative hub to introduce pupils to modern design and manufacturing skills and sit alongside and support the other STEM subjects of science and mathematics. Stowe has established itself as the country’s leading school for Robotics and this new facility will embrace developing technology in Mechatronics, Computer Aided Design, Computer Aided Manufacturing, Computer Aided Engineering, 3D printing and other cutting-edge technology.

David Gausden, Director at Design Engine, said:

We have been working closely with engineers Buro Happold to explore how the building can serve as an educational tool, to illustrate how different materials are employed as structure and fabric. The interior of the building will be developed to reveal how materials are connected, and how spaces are serviced. We hope the building will fuse the act of drawing and making, helping to inspire a new generation of creative individuals and problem-solvers.

David Gausden, Director at Design Engine

The Design Technology & Engineering Centre at Stowe is unashamedly modernist, but follows classical principles; it is bold and innovative, but sits discreetly in the sylvan landscape. The architects of Design Engine are following in the footsteps of Adam, Kent, Borra, Soane and Gibbs. I am confident that Design Engine will produce a superb building which will in turn take its place among the architectural wonders of Stowe.

Dr Anthony Wallersteiner, Head, Stowe School