Frantz H. Coe Elementary School

Narratives

Architect Narrative

When an historic elementary school mysteriously burned to the ground two years ago, the neighborhood mourned the loss of a landmark 1907 structure and community hub. Rising up from the ashes, the new school recalls the noble character of the original structure while incorporating innovative teaching facilities to create a modern landmark that will carry the community well into the future.

Extensive community participation in the design process demonstrated the importance of this institution in the fabric of the neighborhood. A school steering committee, comprised of parents, teachers, district administrators, local business leaders and alumni, worked steadfastly with the design team, in regular sessions, to develop a strong, clear vision for this new neighborhood resource. Responding to community desires, the new school’s plan formality, building mass, exterior materials and fenestration evoke the memory of its precursor. Inside, a variety of learning areas and innovative amenities enhance the school’s 21st century educational program. Together, these facets form the foundation of a three-story concept selected by the school district for the new elementary school.

The “open heart” design concept is developed around a three-story open gallery at the center of the building, visually linking all three floors. This central area serves to reinforce community within the school and encourage interaction between students of all ages. From every position in and around the gallery space, one sees, hears and smells the variety of student activities taking place — from student music practice to painting projects and science experiments. The sense of transparency and openness is achieved with liberal use of glass: 10’-0” tall windows at exterior walls, interior relites that extend to the ceiling between classrooms and the central gallery space, and skylights overhead work together to bring abundant natural light to every area in the building, and to visually connect different learning areas through all floors.

The school is carefully organized to support the various learning styles and needs of its 445 students, ranging from kindergarten through the fifth grade, within a highly efficient plan. Accommodating administration and younger students on the ground level allows supervised access to the main entry, and to the kindergarten playground. On the second and third floors, built-in counters and benches throughout the gallery offer an almost endless potential for individual activity, casual interaction and small group teaching.
Built in seating areas and display allow for small social activities and personalization of space near the classroom entries. Shared activity areas offer abundant resources for learning outside the classroom, including counter areas, sinks, storage, teaching walls and informal seating. Small group rooms are located within the activity spaces and have end walls that fold away to expand the space into the adjacent area. Larger classrooms, dedicated cubbie space for coats outside the classrooms, and specialty rooms for computers, music and art/science programs all serve to enhance the educational mission of the school. This variety of learning settings located throughout the building support innovative educational delivery today, and provide flexibility to enable changing methods over the life of the facility.

Educator Narrative

We knew that our new school needed different spaces than those our 1907 building had to offer. Students are no longer sitting in rows and doing the same thing at the same time all day long. Teaching and learning requires spaces that can accommodate small, flexible, cooperative groups working together in various ways while still being supervised. We wanted many large, open spaces for children to be out of the classroom working semi-independently and smaller spaces for either very small group or one-to-one tutoring or assessing. Space for a variety of learning opportunities was a goal during the design of our building.

We believe that learning takes place in many ways, not just when students are sitting at their desks listening to teachers. We believe that teachers are not on stage all day, but that they guide student learning in a variety of ways and in a variety of environments.

We are still learning new ways to use our spaces, but they are being used. At any time of the day you can find students outside the classroom in the large open spaces working on a large poster spread out on the floor, a group practicing their second grade reader’s theatre or the fifth grade play. Tutors use our smaller spaces with built in desks on a daily basis and teachers are currently using several of our smaller, more private spaces for individual reading tests. We have created several multimedia workstations outside the classrooms that enable students from any room or grade level to have access. Even while students are outside the classroom the openness of the areas around the classroom and around the atrium allow plenty of supervision by adults.

We have used our spaces around classrooms and around the atrium for several unexpected programs. Because of the openness of the space we were allowed to have a disabilities awareness organization set up demonstration stations inside our learning space rather than in the lunchroom away from the daily life of the building. We have also moved our art festival into the atrium and open areas rather than out in businesses and have displays for a significantly longer time. It allowed our students to participate and observe their own and other’s art for a much longer period of time. I believe we will continue to find new ways to utilize our spaces for learning and for community events.

We have found that the openness of our space is helping to create a greater sense of community in our school. We think that the openness of our spaces allow students to see each other more often, for classrooms at different grade levels to be more visible to each other and interact more often. We have met several times as a whole school in our atrium to address important issues or to simply end the week together on a positive note. Ours is a successful use of space, for our students and adults.