Newspaper Page Text
t&x • v;. 3k£'£ «M
"What does the 21st-century school building look like?"
That question drives David Stubbs, Clarke County School
District's director of facilities planning and construction, but
it's a revision from where he started. Initially, in beginning
his work with CCSD, he asked "What does the 21st-century
classroom look like?" But, as he's guided the design of several
recent elementary school projects throughout the district, it's
become apparent that a more holistic look at the academic
environment was needed.
At the recently renovated and rebuilt
Fowler Drive Elementary, there was
the introduction of ideas for a more
engaging learning environment, built
around the principle that as many
elements of the building as possible
should be informative or educational.
This was expressed in many newer, more
artistic treatments of hallway floors
and walls, as well as revealed building
systems that show students how the
world around them actually works. There
are also some beginning explorations
of how technology can be integrated
into the learning environment, and a
progression towards more collaborative
and flexible groupings of classrooms,
centered, at Fowler, around a common
area between rooms.
The new Westside Elementary, as
yet unconstructed, is next in line, in
terms of this ideological progression. It has a similar approach
toucollaborative spaces, and the "three-pronged" layout of the
school is very familiar, but it does a better job of integrat
ing with the community around it Built on blocks of a failed
subdivision, it centers its front door on a neighborhood park
across the street
■Barrow Elementary's renovation and rebuilding will fea
ture the newest model in terms of collaborative spaces, with
a grouping of four classrooms sharing a large common area,
situated between two rooms on one side*of the main hallway.
Flexible walls are being explored, which would allow one or
two classrooms to open into the collaborative space, creat
ing a very dynamic environment for educating many different
groups—from a few students breaking out from their dass to
adding an entire grade level. The design also does a good job
of blending old and new, with its new two-story wing entirely
behind the older portion, and much more inviting approaches
from the surrounding neighborhood.
A recognition that furnishings within the building should
be as dynamic as this new environment is also essential.
Wheeled and easily moveable furniture will facilitate not only
flexibility between classrooms, but within the classroom as
well, with many potential configurations depending on the
activity and subject matter, as well as the learning and teach
ing styles of students and instructors. Stubbs sees the diversity
traditional), and the flexibility within'each one, as a way for
students and teachers to play to their strengths, working and
learning in ways that are most comfortable.
Interesting prototypes for furnishings that are being
explored at CCSD District Services include a wobbly stool—a
solution for fidgety kids that allows them to move just a little
bit while still being engaged in learning—and a taller-than-
usual workstation, which could serve kids who prefer to work
standing up.
Of course, these ideas won't simply be for the newest
schools. Howard Stroud Elementary will also get a similar
treatment in terms of classroom arrangement durir g its retro
fit Two other elementaries, Whit Davis and Cleveland Road,
are sister schools, built from the same floorplan. Likewise,
even if full-scale improvements can't be implemented at those
schools, the ideas being explored at the the classroom level
can be brought gradually online as furnishings hit the end of
their lifespans.
Maxine Essoin Elementary, on the site of the'old Gaines .
Elementary, will be far and away the most interesting and
experimental of the new facilities. It will feature wholesale
reevaluations of the,core elements that constitute a school,
including cafeteria and auditorium spaces as well as the media
center. Although such functions have traditionally been more
isolated—set off from the main circulation of the school—at
Easom, an outsized cafeteria with integrated amphitheater
and stage will be a welcoming, atrium-like space at the heart
of the school. The design move will also allow a more efficient
serving of lunch: Stubbs claims it will reduce the number of
lunch seatings tc* two. "That's not done in this district," he
notes. A mixture of fixed and moveable seating will be applied
here as well, allowing the space to shift from lobby to lunch
room to auditorium throughout the day.
Wrapping around Easom's atrium-cafeteria will be two lev
els of classrooms, with a much-reduced media center perched
above. As technology has increasingly
become handheld and wireless, the need
for a set-aside space for such program-
been reduced.
The design also does a good job
of redefining the school's relationship
to the community, incorporating the
historic school building for an as yet
undefined community use and puling
the playgrounds in front as greenspace
that isopen and inviting to neighbors.
A rather grand avenue approaches the
front door of the school, with parking
off to the side, rather than out in front
It has been interesting to see this
sequence of elementary school designs
progress, but Clarke Central High
School's renovation is also part of the
current round of E-SPLOST projects. The
school district has spent a lot of time
on its elementary schools, and there are
5 certainly a lot more of them. It will be
interesting to see how these 21st-century ideas about technol
ogy and flexible space are interpreted for students closer to an
adult age. While the design process hasri t really started there,
Stubbs sees partnerships, with surrounding institutions, espe
cially on the career and technology sides of things, becoming
increasingly prominent Combined with the notion of 9th-and
lOth-grade academies, the result could be a more campus-like
strategy to organizing space.
Although most of these ideas have barely left the draw
ing board, the enthusiasm with which Clarke County School
District has taken on the idea of creating innovative learning
environments is encouraging. The next question to ask might
be "What dots the 21st-century school district look like?"
With CCD's innovative institutional partnerships and optimis
tic approach to tackling the design of school facilities, I'd say
it might be something like this.
Kevan Williams athensrising@flagpole.com
vintage
ecial addition to our show, wo hove brought
ick our fabulous
Athens indie
<#@3
..
I
.. .. .
end with an eclectic Wend of
yx r '" 1 '
offering everything from J||
jewelry and fashion to fine arts, pottery, and
. more. To odd to the fun, we have a{2&is<3K;
spring by Erogene Tew,
12533 by local musicians
3:30pm, and 5:30pm - featuring Zeko
W , W( Smokey, Cicada Rhythm, Bronson Tew,
& more.
hosted by Ben > Bikes
670 West Broad
; corner of Broad and Pope
||||g ' -v'
APRIL 25,2012 aAGPOLE.COM 7