Merit Awards
Cragmont Elementary, Berkeley, Calif.
ELS Architecture and Urban Design
An urban setting did not prevent designers from emphasizing the importance of the environment on education. Landscaping, which includes student plantings, native plants, a community garden, and a large plaza is used as a teaching device. Play areas are organized on different terraces, following the hillside. Large windows and balconies are used to connect the classrooms, which are perched high on a hill, to the surrounding community. Special education teachers report that the calming effects of views and light have dramatically increased the attention span of students afflicted with ADD. The student body’s standardized test scores also have increased by 38 percentile points one year after move-in.
Both the program and design of the school were developed in an intensive series of workshops with an active group of parents, teachers, administrators, neighbors, and students. Meetings took place every month through the design process and, less frequently, through the construction process.
As a result, the school was designed to serve as a community center, a neighborhood gathering place, and an emergency relief shelter. Outdoor common spaces, playgrounds, and plaza are used by the community.
An encouraged neighbor remarked how “the courtyard is functioning as a community square for the neighborhood.” Even the building’s design aesthetic creates a focal point but fits the scale of the neighborhood through the use of massing, materials, finishes, and colors.
Interior spaces were designed for maximum flexibility. Rooms on the upper level have the option of adding loft mezzanines that create spatial relationships not provided by standard classroom design. Ground-level classrooms have outdoor patios and a trellis for small, peer-teaching groups. Free-form corridors, following the hillside contours, have nodes for break-out spaces.
Fox Run/Mother Teresa School, Sylvan Lake, Alberta, Ontario, Canada
Group 2 Architecture Engineering Interior Design
The Fox Run/Mother Teresa School is a multi-campus facility, incorporating a public school, a Catholic school, and a substantial community component. Through the cooperative efforts of these three partners, substantial enhancements were achieved, providing more program opportunities than traditional, individual facilities would have been able to achieve.
One of the most notable parts of the project is the extensive amount of collaboration during the design process. Three design committees met three times per week during the design stage while two additional committees focused on jurisdictional goals and objectives. One joint steering committee was responsible for maintaining balance between stakeholders, a process that involved co-design workshops with school administrators, staff, students, and board members. These workshops used small group sessions to brainstorm design priorities, which were presented and prioritized by all participants.
The final design includes a gym for community use, as well as a community office and conference room. Classrooms are oriented in groups, creating break-out areas that act as a buffer between student gathering spaces and the learning environment-a setup that provides opportunities for team teaching and collaborative student initiatives.
Silverado Middle School, Roseville, Calif.
Perkins & Will
The Silverado Middle School planning process was a collaborative effort involving a taskforce of teachers, students, parents, administrators, business leaders, and community representatives. Members met with the architectural design team for the better part of a year, helping to create a building that itself is a teaching tool. Exposed structures in the classrooms demonstrate how roof trusses support weight. Slots in classroom walls allow students to see how conduits tie systems together. Labels on exterior plumbing allow students to trace the path of water, waste, and natural gas through a building. A glass-walled elevator allows students to observe the application of hydraulics.
Educationally, the project is a manifestation of the district’s efforts to address the emotional and psychological challenges of adolescence by supporting the transition from self-contained primary classrooms to departmentalized programs. To this end, special spaces were designed for student mediation of conflicts, counseling services, and health services, as well as community police services. An open studio approach to classroom design involves 13 operable walls that can be opened to create multiple oversized learning spaces.
Courtyards also are important to the school’s educational philosophy. Currently, the school operates one grade level per courtyard, allowing each grade to remain in its respective courtyard throughout the day. Designing classroom buildings around usable courtyard spaces encourages outdoor lessons and allow for changes in the educational programs. The school itself is situated adjacent to a city park, allowing the school to double as a community center.
Bedford Middle School, Westport, Conn.
Jeter, Cook & Jepson Architects
The Bedford Middle school is sited on a previously undeveloped parcel linking the existing high school with an established public park. New walking trails and additional athletic facilities turned the once-isolated facilities into a neighborhood and town-wide resource. The school’s commons area serves as a public forum for community meetings and the auditorium, media center, and gymnasium all are designed for after-hours use. A parent/community room near the main entry provides a home within the school for various groups during the school day.
The school is designed to support communities of collaborative learners, with all subject and support areas- academic teams, art, music, athletics, and administration-clustered around the commons. The commons itself contains the media center, cafeteria, and access to an outdoor courtyard. Each academic team is self-contained, with a team area linking the science labs, classrooms, and restrooms. Team areas are linked vertically with the team below and have windows looking into the classrooms as well as to the outdoors.
The layout also provides passive security; the entire main hallway system is visible from almost any part of the commons and administrative functions are decentralized with a staffed office at each entry.
The school’s design and site plan were worked on in more than 100 individual and group workshops, made up of neighbors, parents, elected officials, faculty, and staff. Students and faculty from the existing middle school assisted in the creation and testing of a team area “mock-up,” helping to evaluate the size and configuration of that aspect of the school. Every material, system, and space in the school was reviewed for efficiency and adaptability.
The review process resulted in a project that was more than $3 million under initial estimates with additional energy rebates of more than $200,000.