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My Project

By Svelazquez | XL Design an Addition for your School

Overview Instructions

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Ralph Ellison Campus, Chicago

Many schools were designed for the past and don’t reflect the 21st century learning environment. Some buildings need better ventilation or lighting, while others are simply not large enough to accommodate students comfortably. For this project, you are encouraged to envision an improvement for your school, something that would benefit everyone who uses it. The most successful designs will be ones that identify a specific need and present a strong design solution. The challenge is to add something that changes the footprint of your school building, while addressing a specifically identified need. Projects should include research and development, real world images and information showing why the need exists, in addition to final project design and information.

In this project I will be changing the school lunch room because it is unorganized and overcrowded. Curie high school being the second largest school in Chicago has other problems one being the lunchroom and other things. First, if I will try to make the lunchroom bigger for the reason that during lunch time a lot of students are not comfortable making lots of them go to a different lunchroom were they don't belong. Also this also causes problems and can get them in trouble because there in the wrong lunchroom. Putting more tables to sit in will help also so the students can also sit with there friends and study or even do there homework.One other thing I will change is that I will make the food area more bigger and more enhanced so there might not be so many people waiting on the line for 10 minutes just to get a lunch. By doing this it can avoid a very long line, this can also be one of the big reasons why lots of students don't get a lunch. The last and final thing I will change is that I will put more garbage cans for the reason that there is a lot of students and staff throwing food and other waste away that just two garbage cans can probably cannot handle. By putting 3 or even 4 garbage cans can decrease the chances of garbage getting on the floor and getting the lunchroom look bad. By making these changes it can help Curie high school be a much cleaner place. Also it will help make a students lunch room experience more enjoyable because there is more space and a shorter line to get a lunch.

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Reeds Spring High School Addition, Reeds Spring, MO

Think About

  • What is the size of your school building? Using Google Earth and other online resources, generate a site plan for your school location.
  • What are your initial thoughts about the building? For example, is your school lacking room for art classes? Physical education? Band practice space? Common areas? Cafeteria space?
  • Talk to someone who has been at your school for a while, like a teacher or administrator. They will most likely have great insight as to what areas could stand to be improved.
  • Has anything like this ever been done in the past? If so, what were the results?
  • For more research, we recommend looking at “The Third Teacher: 79 Ways You Can Design to Transform Teaching & Learning,” by OWP/P Architects + VS Furniture + Bruce Mau. The book is easy to digest with lots of great images and design ideas, meant to inspire readers like you. The website for the book is also a great resource.
  • Search online for newly built schools and others that have been upgraded through similar processes. Do you notice anything in common among newly built schools?

Svelazquez's work for the Collect Information step:

Summary
This summary shows the main problems and minor problems of the school lunch room. There is only so much you can do like make it bigger or just put things in a more orderly way.
This is a picture of of the hall/lockers. This is one of the places were it gets very crowded. When...
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This is a picture of one of the lunch tables with students sitting on it. As you can see there is...
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This is just a picture of how crowded it can get during the lunchroom period. People walk...
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This is a picture was taken when the period ends and everyone gets up to go to there next class or...
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This is a picture of the lunchroom line. It takes a very long time to get a lunch because of this...
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This is more like a site plan sketch of Curie high school and the park. Basically something to...
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Karns High School Addition Plan, Knoxville, TN

Identify the problem you want to solve based on the information you have collected.

Explore at least three possible solutions, each of which will no doubt help you as you search for the best addition to your school.

  • What could your ideas look like?
  • How would it change the landscape of your school?
  • Who will benefit most from your design solution?

Try to answer these questions visually through sketching, and in words by taking notes.

Svelazquez's work for the Brainstorm Ideas step:

Summary
My brainstorming ideas are
This is the site plan for Curie high school.
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This is a sketch of the cafeteria. In this sketch it shows basically the process on getting a lunch...
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This is a little sketch of the layout of one of the lunchrooms. The tables and also the garbage can...
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This is the like the back of the lunchroom. Also in the back is the hallway and the school lockers...
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Fridley High School Addition Plan, Fridley, MN

From the previous step, where you developed multiple solutions to the design problem, you should select one of your designs.

  • What is your favorite design? Why?
  • What aspects of your school would it improve?
  • Who would benefit most from your new design?
  • What materials would you be using, and why?

Ideally you will want to create plans of some kind to communicate your final vision, so start to sketch site plans, elevations, and even a floor plan if necessary.

Svelazquez's work for the Develop Solutions step:

Summary
These are my solutions
This is an image of the school building
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This is an image of the school lunch room that I made. I tried to make it a little bigger.
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This is a picture of how i set up the tables in the lunchroom. More tables mean more seats for more...
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This is the outside part of the lunchroom.
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Alexander Graham Bell School Addition, Chicago

Present your final design to your class, to get feedback before completing your project. If you talked to other people while working on and researching for this project, show them your design and get their feedback. If they talked to you before, they will want to see what you’ve created! Take notes during these conversations, and try to understand their suggestions before deciding if you wish to make any changes to your final design.

Carefully take stock of feedback from others and do your best to find the information that will help you finalize your project. Someone might tell you something seemingly small, but that bit of information might be the difference between a good project and a great one.

Svelazquez's work for the Final Design step:

Summary
This is my final
This is a rendering of the lunchroom.
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In this image it shows the elevations of curie. It also is facing were the lunchrooms are at.
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This is a basic floor plan of the school. It also has the dimensions.
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This is a render of the entrance of the lunchroom. As you can see there are also places were you...
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This is the site plan of the school. The roof is all black.
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