A difference everyone can feel

It is easy to miss Hazelwood School. Like some kind of magic-eye optical illusion, it manages to remain invisible until you are almost upon it, then appears from a backdrop of greenery and snaps into focus.

Hidden from the road by a canopy of leaves, the 2700-square-metre building has been constructed from timber, glass and slate. From above, it looks like a melting question mark; from ground level, it's hard to see past the next curve. At the front, a door reveals itself halfway along a wall of glass and opens to allow the sound of school hubbub to seep out. Straight away, you find yourself at the centre of school life in a daylight-drenched open space that is used as a dining hall, an assembly room and a reception area.

Hazelwood, which was the result of a 2003 review by Glasgow City Council of educational provision for sensory-impaired children, has now been shortlisted in the World Architecture Festival Awards. "You can have the most fantastic building but, when it comes down to it, it's got to impact on the children and their achievements," says Monica McGeever, the headteacher of Hazelwood. "I can honestly say that has happened: the children now have a better educational experience."

The school, near Bellahouston Park on Glasgow's south side, has a staff of 60, and 46 pupils, aged from two to 19, who come from eight other local authority areas. One child travels from Lockerbie. Children who attend the school are blind and deaf or have a variety of sight problems. Some have cognitive impairment and physical disability. Four-year-old Mohammed is one of the youngest. Today he learning to find his way round the building using a stick and his carer's voice. He feels his way along the wall with his hand and uses his stick to find his bearings in the open spaces where raised lines define each area.

One of the key themes to come out of the design process was the importance of giving pupils a sense of independence and autonomy, through being able to find their way around with the minimum assistance. A sensory wall, created from tactile materials such as cork, timber and slate, runs the length of the building. As well as providing the children with something other than a hand rail to hold, the wall conceals a wealth of cupboards, which have the dual purpose of keeping the hallway clear of obstacles and providing storage space for the children's kit.

"The hallway has high ceilings; as you get closer to each classroom, the ceiling drops," explains architect Alan Dunlop, who designed the school with his partner Gordon Murray. "Children who depend on their hearing can tell the distance to the classroom because of the change in sound." Each classroom door has the room name in raised print, in braille and in Moon tactile text, which is easier for blind people with learning difficulties.

Moving down the corridor, the gaps in the wall indicate the entrance to a classroom. These become progressively wider and harder to navigate. Classrooms nearer the entrance are for the younger children, while rooms further away are used by older pupils, which serves to keep challenging the children as they move up the school. Between every pair of classrooms is a small room where children can have physiotherapy. It can also be used for "time out" for children with challenging behaviour.

Each classroom has been designed to get the maximum amount of constant, shadow-free light. A wealth of glass emphasises the fact the school is in the heart of a natural environment, and each room has access to an outdoor decked area.

At the far end of the hallway is the music room, where a drumming lesson is taking place when I visit. Matthew, 16, is the school's star singer and says he loves Oasis, his favourite song being Wonderwall. He is playing a drum duet with 14-year-old Adam. Both boys are blind. "I love drums but I also play the tambourine and other percussion," explains Adam, who cites music as his best subject.

"They're both really musical boys and doing exceptionally well," says their music teacher, Juliette Daly, who proudly describes how they each sang at the concert to mark the school's official opening. The boys are now undertaking Higher Still music at access level, and both say they like their new school better.

Monica McGeever believes the new environment has had a huge effect on pupils and staff. "I could almost go through each child and tell you how the building has made a difference to them," she says. "Many of them are much more independent. Their communication skills are much improved, and that's a combination of the building, the different programmes we're doing now in the curriculum and the different approach from staff - who have been very motivated by this building.

"We also have a three-bedroomed house on campus which we will use for residential purposes this year - but when children finish school at three o'clock, before they do their evening activities, they'll go over there and it's really good fun. All the chat that goes on - you can see such a huge difference in them."

The new school also incorporates an art room and a home economics room as well as a gym area with a sunken trampoline and a hydrotherapy pool. "We've got one boy who has huge problems in terms of his mobility; he couldn't walk because of his weight issues and couldn't access pools outside," says McGeever. "He's in that pool three or four times a week now, and what a difference it has made to his life."

Hazelwood is the result of the merger of Kelvin School in the west end of Glasgow, which had 36 pupils, and Carnbooth, near Carmunnock, which had a smaller roll of 12. The finished building opened to pupils in August 2007, following a 14-month consultation period involving staff, parents, local residents, clinicians from Yorkhill Hospital and the Royal National Institute of Blind People.

It has now become the template for special-needs schools around the world, and the architects have been invited to speak at events as far away as New Zealand. "It's the most satisfying job I've ever been involved with," says Alan Dunlop. "Parents were naturally concerned about moving the children out of two existing schools. They wondered how it was going to work out. Some have said that the building is an inspiration to them - and when you hear that as an architect, that really is something."

Of course, every era has a different view of the role of education, and the buildings in which learning takes place reflect these attitudes. In Victorian times, discipline was paramount and schools were imposing structures. In the late 1970s, open-plan schools - regarded as inclusive and democratic - were in vogue. Today, with advances in technology and the profusion of equipment used in the classroom, buildings continue to adapt. But children with special needs have a further layer of requirements.

When Dunlop and his team began creating the new campus, they looked for other custom-built special-needs schools for inspiration. "We knew nothing about how to design buildings for children who are blind and deaf," the architect admits. "And we found out that no-one really did. There was no other school we could use as a template."

Dunlop believes the very existence of the bespoke building sends a strong message, especially to parents. "It's a highly stressful existence if your children are severely disabled. Coming here to a building that has been specifically designed for your child gives you a message that you are worth it and your child is worth it, and we are designing something which is going to help you cope better."

Monica McGeever was involved with both Carnbooth and Kelvin schools for three years. She believes the previous buildings were not meeting the children's needs. "Neither was really fit for purpose. Kelvin was made up of army huts and was really in bad repair. Carnbooth was a beautiful Edwardian villa but, in terms of our children, in terms of accessibility, it wasn't really fit for purpose. It had old staircases that were very difficult for mobility and it was also very dark inside."

Even Hazelwood's location marked a departure from the past. "Around 25 years ago, the thinking was that the campus should be in the middle of nowhere because the children needed a quiet environment away from busy streets," says McGeever. "Now the thinking is that the school is very much part of the community, and a lot of our learning takes place off campus. For example, we have easy access to Asda in Govan, where the children can learn about money."

The curriculum at Hazelwood is very different to that of mainstream schools, and is based heavily on acquiring life skills. "Traditionally, what is taught in mainstream schools is inappropriate for our children," says McGeever. "You've got to think long-term. When they leave us at 18 or 19, what skills will they need?

"For some of our children, teaching them to sit at a table and eat lunch, make choices or go to the toilet independently can take years - but that can make a huge difference. Yet it's also important to challenge them, because we have a wide spectrum of abilities."

marisa.duffy@theherald.co.uk Hazelwood School is open to the public from 10am until 4pm on Saturday, September 20, as part of Doors Open Day.

The doors are open

Doors Open Days is Scotland's largest free annual architectural event, coordinated nationally by the Scottish Civic Trust. It runs every weekend in September and includes 160 buildings, not usually open to the public, across Scotland. Hazelwood School is one of them. This year's programme is as follows:
Tomorrow: Angus, Clackmannanshire; East Renfrewshire and Inverness (Saturday only); Ayrshire, West Fife and Dunfermline (Sunday only).

Saturday, September 13, and Sunday, September 14: Falkirk, Inverclyde, North and South Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire and Stirling; Aberdeen, Caithness, East Dunbartonshire, Midlothian, West Dunbartonshire (Saturday only); East and West Lothian, Central Fife and Kirkcaldy (Sunday only).

Saturday, September 20, and Sunday, September 21: Dundee, Glasgow, Perth and Kinross and Shetland; Aberdeenshire, Dingwall, Tain, Easter Ross and Black Isle (Saturday only); East Fife and St Andrews (Sunday only)
Saturday, September 27, and Sunday, September 28: Dumfries and Galloway; Edinburgh, Moray, Lochalsh, Wester Ross and Lochaber (Saturday only)
For a detailed programme, visit www.doorsopendays.org.uk.