Loch Eil Outdoor Centre Learning Village

Kearney Donald Partnership was appointed in 2021 and, as part of a wider design team to deliver a new learning village at the Loch Eil Outdoor Centre. The development comprises ten classroom buildings set within an interactive, camp inspired landscape.

Welcoming approximately 5,500 young people each year, the project transformed the site through the demolition of a redundant Dorran bungalow and workshop. This created the space needed for a new communal gathering area overlooking Loch Eil.

The classroom buildings are arranged around a central amphitheatre, inspired by the traditional gathering around a campfire, with a sculptural steel orb forming the focal point. The surrounding landscape provides an engaging setting for learning, recreation, and social interaction, while celebrating the natural environment and wildlife that are central to the activities of the outdoor centre.

The development consists of five modular units, each containing two classrooms designed to accommodate twelve students and an outdoor educator, together with an enlarged accessible WC. The five modules, providing ten classrooms in total, are evenly positioned around the central campfire orb.

The buildings are also stepped from north to south, responding sensitively to the existing site topography as it slopes towards Loch Eil.

A palette of locally sourced materials was selected to complement the character of the site and its surroundings. Externally, the classrooms are finished in larch timber cladding, while the interior feature walls lined with a varied arrangement of timber boards.

The tiered seating surrounding the central campfire area was constructed using stone quarried by Corrigan Construction. As part of the outdoor learning environment, the planting scheme incorporates a diverse range of native species, each carefully selected and labelled to support identification and environmental education.