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By exmeralda | 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.

The main issue this school has is that it's over crowded.The main over crowded areas are in the hallways, lunchrooms, and entry/exit doors. I am leaning this project towards the improvement of the lunchrooms since our school once used to be an open campus school for lunch and now that they have taken that away from us, the lunchrooms have becomed more jammed. Considering that, the students now use the media center to spend their time during lunch. In this project I will extend my school and add a new place in which students can use during their lunch periods. Also, our school is big on the environment. We have gardening, compost, climate cycle, and science club. The only problem is we don't have space to provide them with. I would like to extend our school garden and create an Eco-friendly resource center.

Comments

That is such a good idea!

By leslierobinson7, Architect at 10:32 pm, 24 January 2015

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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?

exmeralda's work for the Collect Information step:

Summary
One of our School's biggest accomplishment was that we have the most Solar Panels than any school in the state.
This is our school garden, which is located outside. The issue with this is we could only use this...
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These are our compost bins, which are located in the drivers ed section of our school. We obviously...
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This is another image of our school garden from another angle. My friend, Iliana, got in the...
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This is an image of our Courtyard, which is never used. This was suppose to be used for an outside...
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This is another view of our courtyard. Note: They didn't let me go inside the courtyard 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.

exmeralda's work for the Brainstorm Ideas step:

Summary
In this process I researched other gardens to inspire my design. I also identified my floor plans in which i'll be using for the new eco-center.
This is the current floor plan of my schools' garden. I'll be using this area for my new...
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This is the courtyards' floor plan from my Collecting information tab. I'll also be using...
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This is located in the courtyard area. It's 2 floors and this would be the garden area/walk...
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This is what inspired me to create my garden area design.
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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.

exmeralda's work for the Develop Solutions step:

Summary
As I was creating my design I noticed flaws. I continued to create my design while I improved it.
This is in the bottom floor level. This would be the lunch area. It's an open space with an...
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This is the seating area surrounded by a garden. This is in the upper floor level.
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This is the bottom floor still under development.
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This is the tree house in the middle of the courtyard.
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The stairs in which you would get from downstairs and upstairs.
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This is the 2nd level floor plan so far.
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This is inside the building/underneath the garden.
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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.

exmeralda's work for the Final Design step:

Summary
My final design is located in the courtyard of my school. It has two levels. The first level is an outdoor are with a tree house where the students can hang out and eat lunch.
This is located in the first floor inside the building. It is part of the teen lounge section.These...
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This is also in the first floor. It is part of the Arcade area and computer station for the teen...
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This is my final design for the seating place surrounded by flowers. This is located in the second...
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This is the courtyard area, as you can see, there's a tree house and outdoor lunch tables.
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This is the main/1st floor. I labeled the areas that surrounded my design. In the first floor you...
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This is my final floor plan for the second floor. You're still able to see what's...
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