Blog posts by Andy Batty

Andy Batty – Author

  I wrote a story; the story became a book; the book got published (or will be, on the 28th of November). It sounds easy, it wasn’t, but I made it as easy as I could. They say, “write about something you know,” so I did. I wrote a story set in a school. I design them, so I could easily picture the classrooms, the workshops, the hall, the playgrounds, the fields and how the building looked and felt. I’ve also surveyed enough schools to know their idiosyncrasies, their smells, and their problems. But it is people that are the… READ MORE

The Big Easy

On Wednesday 17th May, Michael Eavis CBE officially opened The Mendip School, a special school for 120 pupils aged 4 to 19 located on the Bath and West Showground near Shepton Mallet. Mendip School is an easy building; easy to build, easy to navigate, easy to use. It is not frivolous. It is functional, practical and works very well. It’s mainly about putting rooms in the right place. The primary school classrooms face south so the sun warms the external teaching space where the children spend so much of their time whereas the secondary school classrooms face north, enjoying daylight… READ MORE

DKA Presents | by Andy Batty

Every fortnight at DKA we take it in turns to present something design based to the whole team and we’re calling it DKA presents. Presenting to our peers means we get the opportunity to practice our presenting skills and share our passions with our colleagues. We get anonymous feedback from the audience to help us develop our presenting style and everyone gets to eat pizza! So all in all, everyone looks forward to every other Wednesday lunchtime! We asked Andy to tell us about his recent presentation for the blog: School in a box I have never had an overriding ambition to… READ MORE

Dr Who makes surprise appearance at cub camp

Wiltshire West District’s Doctor Who Cub Camp 10-12th of June 2016 The thirteenth regeneration of Dr who made a brief appearance at the Wiltshire West, District cub camp at the weekend, whisking the cubs away in the Tardis to the siege of Mafeking in 1899 where Baden Powel and a thousand or so inhabitants defended the town against 8000 Boers. Dr Who rallied an array of deadly aliens to the cause, all of whom proved to be remarkably incompetent, requiring cub scouts to the save the day, and through an ironic paradox that broke almost every rule in the known,… READ MORE

Designing for Special Needs

Special needs is a subject with bucket loads of emotion for all involved; frustration, triumph, loneliness, friendship, anger, appreciation, pride and respect; but for me the emotion is joy. I am privileged to design schools for pupils with special needs, and there are many reasons I should be happy about it. For a start I am designing for people who are passionate about what they do, and care about what I can do for them. Secondly the brief is developed through close consultation, gradually getting to understand the school’s vision, the approach to teaching and learning; welfare and socialisation; safety… READ MORE