Eric Parry Architects has won a coveted RIBA award for the new Music School at Bedford School. The awards recognise 'design excellence' regardless of the size or comparative complexity of the project.

The £3 million acoustically innovative scheme confirms Bedford School's status as one of the leading independent schools in the country for the study of music; the new school comprises a 140-seat recital hall, rehearsal rooms and a teaching wing, all connected by a glazed street'.

The recital hall features an elevation composed of alternating glass and stainless steel panels and faces directly on to the extensive playing fields. The hall is flexible enough to accommodate the changing daily schedule of the Music School.

Eric Parry Architects joined forces with Paul Gillieron Acoustic Design to model the hall, using purpose built software as a powerful predictive tool to ensure the optimum acoustic conditions. As a result, the acoustic of the Recital Hall is appropriately reverberant, responsive, warm and enveloping, facilitating the dialogue between performers and audiences.

The Music School is the second phase of an ongoing collaboration between Bedford School and Eric Parry Architects, who also designed the Bedford School library, which opened in 2003. The Music School was officially opened by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Master of the Queens Music, in March 2006.

In recent years Eric Parry Architects has been involved in a number of educational projects, including the completion of the £6.5 million RIBA awardwinning Foundress Court at Pembroke College, Cambridge and New Studio Accommodation at the Wimbledon School of Art.

Notes to Editors:

Eric Parry Architects
Eric Parry Architects is an established and award-winning practice with a growing portfolio of notable work. Current projects include Selfridges & Co. Department Store and Hotel and The Holburne Museum of Art in Bath, as well as two major office developments in the City of London - 5 Aldermanbury Square, adjacent to London Wall, and 60 Threadneedle Street,

The practice undertakes an unusual range of work, varied in scope and scale. It has won numerous awards, including an RIBA Award and the AIA Design Excellence Award for the design of its office building at 30 Finsbury Square, London, an FX International Interior Design Award for the Spa at the Mandarin Oriental, Hyde Park, and an RIBA Regional Award for Foundress Court at Pembroke College, Cambridge University. Founded in 1983, the practice now employs 54 staff. A second office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, has generated a number of residential schemes.

http://www.ericparryarchitects.co.uk/

For further information on Eric Parry Architects, please contact:
Robert Torday / Gemma Wood
T: 020 7392 1986 (direct); 020 7392 1982 (direct) 020 7247 8334 (switchboard)
M: 0771 4242 910 / 07751 187 175
E: robert.torday@ing-media.com / gemma@ing-media.com