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 HS has been around since 1973 and through out the years, the number of students has only been increasing. Curie has become over-populated and crowded as years go past. What we plan to do is add a new addition to the school. We plan on replacing the courtyard of the high school with a two storey building. With this building we would be able to create a space for the seniors students. The first floor can be a lunch room for the seniors and some more classrooms. the second floor will be a gathering place for seniors where they can go and do their own school work and college work. Having another building would create more space around the school making the hallways less crowded which helps to avoid safety hazards and provide more space for the students with disabilities.

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Over the years in continues to grow from small institution to an empire which houses more than a thousand young professionals. - Reputation Advocate

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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?

iggy1717's work for the Collect Information step:

Summary
we collected a few pictures to give us inspiration as to how we would like to create our school addition. We have our cite plan to show where our addition is located.
This dome from Mansueto library gave me an idea of how the roof of our school addition should look...
The oval in the middle of the two buildings is the addition. It is shaped like an oval because we...
This is the idea we had for the second floor of the school addition. The second floor of the new...
this is an idea of how we would like our lunchroom to look like. we like the how there are...
this is the courtyard for curie hs. we plan on removing this whole area to reaplace with a new...
another view of the courtyard

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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.

iggy1717's work for the Brainstorm Ideas step:

Summary
These are all the ideas that we were thinking of for our school addition.
This sketch is a of our school with the new addition with a flat oval glass roof.
This sketch is of our new addition with a dome glass roof.
This sketch is of the new school addition but with the courtyard still there with two other floors...
This is the bubble diagram of the school and where the new school addition will be placed.

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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.

iggy1717's work for the Develop Solutions step:

Summary
This tab shows how we are project is coming along. it shows what we have done and what changes we decided to make during this phase.
This is our roof for our school addition. it is made out glass and we added mullion to support it....
this is the left side view of our school addition. we changed the walls to a maroon looking color...
the cork flooring is recycled cork wood. the walls are from recycled bamboo. this helps by saving...
This is the overhang we have created. students will be able to stand underneath it on days when it...
This floor is made from recycled ceramic tile. this helps by reducing the amount of landfills.

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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.

iggy1717's work for the Final Design step:

Summary
There were many different materials and ideas for this project. We managed to take a part of the school that is almost never used and turn it into a constructive and efficient learning enviornment.
this is the picture is of the south room of the second floor. In this view you can see the view...
this picture is of a lounge area in the addition where students may sit and read or interact with...
This is a view of the girls bathroom it contains bamboo walls toilets and the sinks and toilets use...
in this ilustration we have double elevators for easy access to our disable students. we included...
in this picture we have bar stools on the side of the place for students use of computers and there...
this view is of the mid section of our second floor you can see the bathrooms and tables.the two...
this is the entrance\evit of the bathroom there are sinks and hand dry machines

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