Modiin Science School

Narratives

Architect Narrative

PROJECT NARRATIVE

The project is one of the first school buildings in a new town being built since 1994.

The educational and architectual aim of the design was to imbede urbanity into the school itself. This is achieved by creating a miniature town with science and library spaces located in the center of the composition as its small cathedral.

The need for autonomy and privacy of the classroom clusters, leading to a scattered scheme, contradicts with the need for an impressive public institution. We tried to integrate the opposing demands through the immage of the medieval town with its impressive compact sight and the delicate pattern of interior and exterior spaces , squares, alleys and gathering places that are simultanously defining and being defined by the building.

Pedagogically the design answers the need to define three distinct age-group “homes” by creating corresponding three classroom clusters, each with its adjacent court,
private lavatories and a spacious multipurpose space for leisure and informal educatinal activities.

The design distinguish the schools specialization in science by the small “shrine” of science in the middle of the composition.

Educator Narrative

EDUCATOR NARRATIVE

1. We asked the architects to create 3 “Homes” each consisting of 6 to 9 classrooms. Every cluster should have the maximum autonomy while keeping a close contact with the common funtions of the school, mainly the Library and Science study center.

2. We asked the architects to avoid fragmentation of the school and while keeping the autonomy of the classrooms clusters try to keep the “wholeness of the building” to express its institutional conviction.

3. Every cluster should provide sufficient space for individual and small groups studies outside the classrooms itself.

4. We asked the architects to provide a variety of outdoor spaces for gatherings of various sizes, from an amphitheater for all the children to small spaces for smaller groups.

5. Every cluster should have access to a close playground which could be regarded as “theirs”.

6. We asked the architects to express by the design the scientific specialization of the school.