Evolving the School

Kate Ganim

MArch Thesis Review 2

18 October 2011

The traditional educational model is in jeopardy

Offshoring

Academic Inflation

Based on US Census Bureau data

City

Prioritize uniformity and metric assessment to gauge achievement (to secure state/federal funding)

School Admin
Prioritize overall student growth and success entering the workforce

Teachers

Parents

Students

Map of Conflict

Thesis goal: to design an educational space that mediates between traditional (measurable and linear) and alternative (creative and non-linear) models of learning.

Uniformity within the conventional school: material and human scale

The classroom should be between 750 and 1,000 square feet, and accommodate between 20-25 children. The space requirement per child in a classroom ranges from 35 to 42 square feet. Furniture that can be easily rearranged is recommended. Student Desk Teacher Desk Open Classroom Space

Uniformity within the conventional school: classroom scale

Uniformity within the conventional school: organizational scale

The centralized resource plan

The dumbbell plan

The spine plan

Classrooms Media Rooms Circulation Shared facility

The courtyard plan The classroom-clustering plan The courtyard with classroom clustering plan

Single access point (for security and monitoring) Direct access to playground areas Bus drop-off

School Building

Playground Parent/Child drop-off

Parking

Service vehicle access

School Building Interior/Exterior Access Motor Vehicle Circulation Exterior Play Area

Uniformity within the conventional school: site scale

Olafur Eliassons Your Blind Passenger, creating sensory-intensive environments that change across the space

Mark Hortons The Little School, integrating ergonomics with the playful nature of children

Precedents: material and human scale

Adventure Playgrounds, permitting freedom of movement and creative use of the spaces objects with no hierarchy imposed

Arkitemas Hellerup Skole, a successful example of the open plan due to articulations and differentiations of space

Precedents: room scale

RAND Corporation, optimizing redundancy of routes and minimizing length of routes to increase chance interaction

Mark Hortons The Little School, classrooms are placed amidst play spaces, which become the primary circulation spaces instead of corridors

Classrooms Circulation Shared facility

Precedents: organizational scale

The Public School considers the city as the school: being everywhere and nowhere in the city, any place can become a classroom The Imagine Bus Project disposes of the traditional monastic autonomy of schools with its mobility, bringing art education to kids

Precedents: site scale