A new brightly coloured school has opened on the beachfront in Bridgetown, offering a prototype for climate‑resilient education in regions facing rising seas and increasingly severe tropical storms. The Oceana Innovation Hub uses mass timber to test a new model for rapid, low‑carbon school construction across the Caribbean.
AMMA — the new studio established by Kigali‑based MASS Design Group cofounder Michael Murphy — was commissioned by the nonprofit XQ Institute to design a deployable school system capable of withstanding extreme weather. Delivered with the Barbados Ministry of Education, the project forms part of a national push to rethink school infrastructure as climate pressures intensify.
Sitting on the beach at Carlisle Bay, the hub functions as both a school and a living laboratory. Its modular timber structure draws from the island’s historic chattel houses, lightweight wooden dwellings developed in the 19th century for emancipated workers.
AMMA reinterprets the typology through a contemporary mass‑timber system, using glulam and cross‑laminated timber panels to create a series of pyramidal modules. These units can be assembled, expanded, or relocated at an unusual speed, allowing the building to adapt to changing needs.
Murphy said the design began with the island’s exposure to stronger storms and rising seas. “The pyramidal, or many‑angled, roof design helps in avoiding or mitigating significant wind,” he said.
“This is a building that breathes.”
Louvred openings, deep overhangs and a naturally ventilated interior allow air to move freely through the structure without creating pressure points during extreme weather. A skylight at the apex of each module draws air upward, reinforcing the passive cooling strategy.
Inside, exposed timber beams frame open, flexible spaces that shift from small group work to large presentations. One classroom opens directly onto the beach, giving students immediate access to the shoreline for marine science and climate‑focused learning.
The building’s structural system is equally unconventional, with cross‑beams meeting mid‑strut to maintain openness. Murphy likened the triangular plan to metabolist architecture, calling it “a really exciting discovery… it allows for a multiplicity of spaces, from paired‑down working groups to large, presentation‑style dialogues.”
The exterior is wrapped in a textured “corduroy” façade, developed with local artists, that echoes the vivid colours of Bridgetown’s historic streetscape. Despite its complexity, the building was completed in just 10 months, driven by the urgency of the climate agenda and its role as a national prototype.
The Oceana Innovation Hub is already hosting youth climate programs, community events and ocean‑based learning. AMMA has been approached to adapt the system for post‑hurricane reconstruction in other parts of the Caribbean.
Murphy, who spent nearly two decades with MASS Design Group, said the project reflects a broader ambition to rethink how architecture engages with supply chains, ownership and financing. “If we’re really talking about how power is reproduced… we have to transform the financial structure,” he said.
- To learn more about the Oceana Innovation Hub, click here for information on the grand opening earlier this year.
