Cardinal Ritter High School--Take 2

Cardinal Ritter is a Catholic-based high school devoted to rooting the beliefs of Catholic faith in their teachings. Its structure definitely resembles its goals of teaching, as there is a chapel directly connected to the side of the school. With a mostly glass and brick exterior, the school is warm and welcoming, allowing sunlight to penetrate and promote a solid learning environment. To me, though, this is really the only thing “special” about the façade, as aside from the chapel, it looks like a pretty typical school. Going through the plans, I found something kind of interesting; there not not that many classrooms and when they are, multiple of them are specialized for the subject they teach. For example, on the second floor, there are six classrooms; one for 2-D design, one for 3-D design, one for math, two for English, and two “general” classrooms. I thought this was an extremely interesting concept, as it seems that this curriculum puts a heavy emphasis on the creative arts. Additionally on each floor, there is one large main hallway, allowing students to move throughout the building and to communicate freely with one another. Outside the art rooms is a gallery, a room that I have never seen within a school. They appear to be putting extreme emphasis on the idea of the arts and creativity here.

The red blocks show the classrooms with a specific theme, particularly art, English and math. The Blue blocks represent the “general” classrooms, where there is no specified subject, but rather a general learning room. The green represents movement corridors, including hallway and staircases, where students travel and interact with each other. The yellow is the chapel, showing a dominant place of education/ a crucial part of their curriculum.

Weekly Response 2: Milstein Hall

Architect: Rem Koolhaas and OMA
School: Milstein Hall
Year: 2011
Client: Cornell University
Location: Ithaca, New York              

 Milstein Hall is part of the Cornell School of Architecture Art Planning. This building plays a role in the learning by being an example of modern architecture. There are also many different rooms for learning inside of the building. There are many classrooms and lecture halls inside of it which serve the function of the hall. There are also many open areas in Milstein Hall for eating, studying, and for social encounters. There is a large circular structure that serves as a social place. The classrooms are very compact, and seem to be in a domain of their own. They are bunched together in a separate place than the circular social area. The classrooms are divided as if they are little puzzle pieces, fitting together to create a cozy compact learning environment. The building seems fit to teach architecture because of the layout being very open, and also being such an influential piece of modern architecture to marvel over while learning how to design buildings.

Auroville Kindergarten, Auroville, India

Architecture team: Auroville Building Centre
School: Auroville Kindergarten
Auroville, India
Completed in 2004

The colorful surroundings, the open-air canopies and spacious indoor educational facilities truly make the kindergarten into what kindergarten was intended to be: a child's garden, not some quasi-prison that parents tend to send their kids.

The facilities are quite large for how few kids attend, which lends to how much space the kids are given and how much individual attention is allotted to each child in attendance. The main classrooms are grouped together in the middle to show that education is the main focus, but there is room around the classes to explore and play. They have even distanced the activity classrooms and playgrounds from the main classrooms to sectionalize these different aspects of their education. While some of the outer facilities are open-air with nothing but a roof over the top, like the arts and crafts room, allowing creativity to flow, the educational buildings are closed in to focus, but with large windows and tall ceilings to allow breathing room.

If I were a parent, I would be confident to send my student here, whether for daycare or kindergarten. Just from the design of the facilities, I would see that my kid would have space to grow, learn, but also enjoy themselves.

Nick Killeen, Blog Post 2

Nick Killeen, Blog Post #2

The Bailly School Complex
Architect: Mikou Design Studio
Location: Saint-Denis, France
Completed: 2009

The Bailly School Complex houses a preschool, an elementary school, and a recreation center. Along one side is a very busy road. The building glazed over the windows on this side to ensure student privacy and keep the children focused. The side opposite the road has wings that open up into gardens, which allow the children time outside in fresh air in between classes. The colorful design of the building and the way the lights and windows keep it bright help to facilitate a fun and vibrant learning environment for the children. This school design can help get kids enthusiastic about their learning early on, simply by having a unique and playful design. While the classrooms and windows are designed for privacy and focus, the building as a whole, with its colors and gardens, keeps the mood light, which should be very beneficial to the young students that attend the school.

The Sharp Centre for Design

Architect: William Aslop

Name of School: The Sharp Centre for Design

Year Built: 2004, updated in 2008

Client: Ontario College of Art and Design, Student and Facility

City and Country: Ontario, Canada

The Sharp Centre for Design stands tall above the bustling Ontario city.  With its boldness, but whimsical feel, it creates an atmosphere where art and design students are inspired to work. The layout is very rigid and enclosed in which creates a focused feel to the school.  Many of the workspaces have walls surrounding them.  The views out the window can become inspiration for the next art or design project that can be evolving.  These windows could be distracting for one who would be seated in a design class being lectured.  The brightly colored walls and plenty of window space allow for much color and lighting to come into the room.  This lighting is good to keep students attention and allow for plenty of the environment to enter the workspace.  Underneath the “Table Top” there is park, which allows students to become looser from the focused feel of the curriculum.  This building allows for the students to be focused and have a bold and unpredictable piece of architecture to allow their ideas to flow in and out of.    

Elevations:

Section Drawings:

Floor Plan:

Interiors:

Kickin' it new school!

The Provenance: 

Architect: Vo Trong Nghia co.

School Name: Binh Duong Junior High School

Year Built: 2011

Client: Phan Chu Trinh School

City and Country: Binhduong, Vietnam

This building is designed to be very open and a natural part of the environment. The classrooms are closed off from the environment, to create a focused feel, but the hallways and social spaces are integrated into the environment through the use of slatted sides, garden spaces and the pool. The bright white is supposed to be airy and welcoming, beckoning students to come and learn in the building. The transparent nature of the building provokes the curiosity of students by engaging them with their peers and allowing students to observe what their peers are doing in the social and educational environment.  One interesting aspect of the building is the accessible green roof, which allows students to have access to a green space for socializing, relaxing and learning in the natural environment. The design of the school promotes both engagement with and separation from peers and the environment, depending upon the space being utilized.