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.

Curie Metropolitan High School is housed to about three thousands students. The changes I would make to Curie would be first be to change Curie's fitness facility. I would change the weight room first of all to be open to all students. This would be beneficial because this country is known for its overweight and diabetic people. Curies weight room can be open to students during their lunch periods and after school hours to students. Then I would expand the weight room to have more treadmills and have a better feel to it. I would make more space to move around. The main gym I would re-do the hardwood flooring and change the walls with modern expandable bleachers. Another change I would make is to straighten out the field behind curie and take out the baseball fields and add turf. The field will include bleachers, field goal post, and a closed area to make it a stadium type. It'll be open to the public when its not in use. Remodel the tennis course into a bike shelter. Curie students could use bicycles to get to school and save the earth without using gas. Have security taking care of the bikes. Only student accessible during school hours and when no school is in session then open to the public this includes weekends, school days after school hours, and summer. The big change would be the schools lunchrooms.The metal shop curie doesn't use anymore can be remodeled as a new lunchroom it'll be open and have a glass wall. All these changes are beneficial to all three thousand students here at curie, it just makes life easier.

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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?

chinobeano's work for the Collect Information step:

Summary
These are photos of the areas I plan to renovate and remodel. Curie's tennis courts and garden are areas that can be changed to benefit the student body and the public.
This is Curie's tennis court. Curie's tennis court hasn't been used for so long I...
This is an inside view of the tennis court. In one of the corners I'm going to place a little...
This is a view of middle of the tennis court. There'll be rows to place your bicycles with...
This area in curie is mostly used for gardening. I want to keep the plant idea and surround it with...
I plan to keep this and add stone tables and seats. Around the site there'll be benches and...
This is Curie's first floor plan. It contains the area where I'm renovating this court...
This is the secondary court yard I was explaining from the last photo. I want to close it off and...

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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.

chinobeano's work for the Brainstorm Ideas step:

Summary
These images are the renovations I plan to make to Curie's current tennis court and secondary courtyard. I plan to make a study room out of the secondary courtyard.
The circled area in the first floor key plan is the second courtyard I'm renovating. Its...
This is my close up floor plan for the secondary courtyard. It doesn't include the plants I...
This is a front view of the studying building I am creating. The front wall will be made out of...
This is the side view and the roof view from top. The roof includes skylights and solar panels. The...
This is a floor plan for a bike shelter I plan to create for the tennis court. The bike racks are...
This is the front view of the bike shelter. It will have like a bike store feel to it, but its...

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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.

chinobeano's work for the Develop Solutions step:

Summary
These two sites are both underway. Both may look different to the sketches because I'm a person who thinks on my feet basically.
This is a view of my current progress on my bike shelter/cafe. The building will be separated...
This is a front birds eye view of the building. You can see there's two entrances and one door...
This is the basic outline of the study area. Its located by the drivers ed trailer and you go...
This is a more descriptive look of the site. The red masses are the buildings surrounding the site...
I have set down panel walls to enclose the sight to make it suitable in all kinds of weather for...
This is a glass roof. The roof is made out of glass brick and acts to make the study area a...
This is more like a birds eye view of the whole site. The glass brick roof, the earth within the...

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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.

chinobeano's work for the Final Design step:

Summary
Curie's remodeled sites are now present! Now included to the community plus Curie's student body are a bike shelter/cafe, and a study area that is a garden with glass dome.
This is the front view of Curie's brand new cafe/bike shelter. Glass front wall this bike...
This is the interior of Curie's brand new cafe. This is very beneficial for the winter and...
This is still the cafe entrance where customers come in. Has a nice opening feel. Its meant for the...
This is the bike shelter of the site. This is aside of the cafe and there's a door in the wall...
This is outside Curies brand new study area. This environmental dome is beneficial for the...
This is how the dome will look like as soon as you enter the building. There's computers on...