It was an energizing day for all of us, and fascinating to see the different ways in which design can interplay with programming to create warm and communal educational settings. Christa DiNapoli has written a great summary of her impressions of the three schools; it can be found in the "comments" section of the November 4th post announcing the field trip (scroll down below). Her reactions to each building closely mirror my own, so rather than repeat her list of "favorite features," I will simply add a few more to what Christa has already noted:
Ditson Elementary School, Billerica
- Full-size gym with a PE office, storage room, and bathrooms attached
- Glassed-in main office with great visibility; it's the first thing you see when you enter the building
- Two large conference rooms for meetings
- Each floor has a staff planning room
- Occupational Therapy/Physical Therapy room
Thoreau Elementary School, Concord
- Lots of daylight at the ends of corridors
- Visually very appealing from the outside; is nestled within a residential neighborhood
- Benches in stairwell landings provide quiet, tucked-away spots
- Remarkably quiet cafeteria due to acoustical ceiling design (we saw it when it was full of kids having lunch)
- Classroom heating via radiant panels in the ceiling--this frees up counter space where heating vents are often located
Argenziano Elementary School at Lincoln Park, Somerville
- Special Kindergarten/First Grade playground tucked into a U-shaped courtyard
- Separate area within each Kindergarten classroom for student lockers
- Hallway display cases of student and class projects
- Glass sidelights and transom windows around classroom doorways so that you can easily see inside/outside
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