IDEAS
Three Timeless Lessons for Designing Child-Oriented Places of Learning
An article by Eric Epstein, AIA, LEED AP
“We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us.” When Winston Churchill spoke these words in 1943, he was referring to rebuilding the House of Commons and how the mere shape of the chamber determined the nature of discourse in the parliamentary democracy. But as we know, this aptly applies to all buildings and spaces we inhabit, not the least of which are schools—a building typology that plays an outsized role in shaping us during our most formative years. By the time the average student graduates from college he or she will have spent about 24,000 hours, or a fifth of all waking hours, in school buildings.
CHINATOWN GATEWAYS COMPETITION
Entry points and boundaries of neighborhoods have always shifted with time and historical events. This is true in all cities and especially so in a dynamic metropolis such as New York.
In an ever-evolving urban fabric with complex social and cultural overlays, the concept of a static gateway is anachronistic and would prove irrelevant in short order. Instead, we see this gateway site, and the several others, as nodes of activity from which the neighborhood draws vitality and around which it can evolve and transform over time, allowing its boundaries to shift as needed.
Coming Soon...
FLOATING BOOKSHELVES
A custom design for modern, minimalist, and highly functional wall-mounted shelves for any home library.