Located in George Town on Grand Cayman, the British studio Jestico + Whiles has presented the design for the new John Gray School, a school for 1,200 pupils built on the site of a partially completed and then abandoned project in the early 2000s.

The design brings together four existing structures on the site into a single architecture, dividing the school programme within them. A large new space in the centre contains an open plan canteen and a domed library clad in wood on stilts. From here, classroom wings extend to connect to the old structures.

During the design process, the team worked to reflect in the architecture the growing impact of climate change on the islands, thus making the school also suitable as a hurricane shelter for a capacity of more than 3,000 people. The architects therefore had to ensure that the building could withstand winds of over 250 kilometres per hour while remaining fully operational, with functioning power, ventilation and cooling, and an independent water supply.

“The need for climate resilience is very important for low-lying island nations that are at risk of experiencing an increase in the severity of storms,” explains Julie Désormiers, associate director of the firm. “In addition to being designed to withstand hurricane-force winds and having an independent power and water supply, the building is located away from the coast, at a higher elevation than the adjacent land, and is equipped with flood barriers to minimise the risk of storm damage.”