School for Environmental Science & Technology
| Architecture | Institutional | School |
This project focuses on key concepts based on: 1) the environmental apparatus- double skin facade, 2) the concept of pulling the exterior spaces vertically throughout the building, and 3) engaging the community to create more interaction between learning and the local community. The overall scheme of the plan is that of a palazzo with entries on both Ponce de Leon Avenue and Peachtree Street and colonnades that align the sidewalk of Ponce de Leon Avenue and the adjacent green space to the west of the building. A skin of glass louvers wraps the building, creating a condition that allows for spaces that are either open to the exterior or closed, making them interior spaces. This school for environmental science and technology would tout roof top terraced gardens, an exterior reading room for the library, a private, exterior terrace for teachers, and a courtyard for gathering. The courtyard acts as a hub for the students connecting classrooms, public spaces, the gymnasium, exterior greenspace, and the sidewalk. It provides gathering space for groups and space in the morning for students to wait for class to start. The glass louver skin can open in large panels along the sidewalk at Ponce allowing the building to appeal to the community, inviting them in to this main courtyard for events, such as Parent Night. The glass skin has many possibilities for design: it could host large images related to topics of science, such as molecules, constellations, etc. that could help engage the community and promote learning beyond the doors of the school. The louver skin acts to obscure, as well as reveal, the school behind it causing an interesting phenomenon that can change on a daily basis. Through this project, I can imagine a school that inspires our children to learn, both in the classroom and beyond and encourages the local community to become more involved in not only their own futures, but those of our children that will follow us.
This project represents a collaboration between 3 classes: Studio, Construction Technology, and Structures. This gives the project more detail and allows the students an opportunity to begin thinking about how things like construction technology and structural systems can influence the design of a building. The studio drawings are featured above and the construction tech detail drawings are featured below.
