Are you a primary school, pre-school or private day nursery? Are you looking for a modular building which can enhance and increase your floor area, provide a quiet-space or staff room?

There are of course more reasons to build to a circular footprint than there are to build a rectangle (not least because the rectangle is the most uninspiring shape…..!) but let’s highlight just a few of the core reasons that a Rotunda may benefit you and your school or nursery:

• Ease of installation: Being a modular, timber-framed building, the Rotunda is carried in as ‘sections’ and is installed in as few as little as ten to fifteen days from initial set-up to key hand over. This is a whole new world compared to the old-fashioned brick and block method of building, which (surprisingly), is still currently employed by many builders.

• Planning Approval: To achieve planning approval and to reflect and enhance the image of your school you should be seeking out an environmentally focused building which embodies the beauty of the natural world – utilising natural, home grown locally sourced British timber.
• Inspiring and Engaging: Childern are more likely to interact with the teachers and each-other if you seat them in a circle and create an ‘action zone’. If you want to engage and inspire the children, create a school classroom which is a modular ‘action zone’ and get their minds and passion engaged!
• Forest Schools: If you are participating in the forest schools, this further highlights your passion for the natural environment and you need a building to reflect this. From unfurling leaves to birds nests and the wonderful acorns and hazelnuts we delightedly show our children, there are no right angles in nature. What a wonderful way to teach about the natural world. From within the classroom.
• Inclusivity: A building which embraces, nurtures and inspires children – furthermore, improving inclusivity. There are no corners for children to hide in and no back row to be excluded or left out. A circular space is open to all and promotes a wonderful flow of movement.
• Eco-Building: There is a massive energy saving to be made by using a circular building, as there are no corners for energy leakage and the thermal dynamics are optimum.

The Rotunda is built with British Timber and complies to British Buildings regulations. A classroom environment which is nurturing, safe and inclusive. Fire Alarms, Fire Doors, underfloor heating, fully certified electrics, Aargon filled double glazed units are all part of the package. The exterior of the building is all natural, untreated, hard-wearing and requires no maintenance.

” – To build to a circular footprint is 30% more resource efficient for the same floor area as a rectilinear structure

– The thermal dynamics of a circular space are optimum, meaning that there is a constant movement of air within the building reducing the requirement for mechanical ventilation

– The space-planning and the flow of movement within circular rooms are much easier to achieve, especially within larger commercial buildings where disabled access and ramps are a requirement.”

The PSYCHOLOGICAL impact of changing the form of your proposal from rectilinear to a circular, eco-building is quite staggering in terms of the childrens learning.

1) Marx, Furher and Hartig EFFECTS OF CLASSROOM SEATING ARRANGEMENTS ON CHILDREN’S QUESTION-ASKING
“INVESTIGATING the relationship between seating arrangements and the question-asking patterns of ten year olds. Students asked their teacher significantly more questions when they were seated in a semi-circle than in rows.
2) “Desk Arrangement Effects on Pupil Classroom Behaviour – Peter Rosenfield Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District Nadine M. Lambert and Allen Black Department of Education University of California, Berkeley
The purpose of this study was to evaluate experimentally the effects of desk arrangement on observed pupil behaviour. The desk arrangements studied were rows, clusters, and circles. Results confirmed hypotheses that students seated in circles engage in significantly more on-task behaviour than those in rows and that students seated in clusters engage in more on-task behaviour than those in rows but less than those in circles.”
3) Circular seating arrangements: Approaching the social crux in language classrooms
Joseph Falout Nihon University, Japan – Abstract Circular seating arrangements can help instil a sense of belonging within classroom communities with overall positive effects on learning, emotions, and well-being.