School of One: Design Charrette Pictures

School of One Charrette April 30 - May 2, 2009 New York, NY

{

“It was an amazing experience.

I can't wait to bring it to life.”

School of One NYC Department of

Joel Rose Developer Education

The teams at work in the M.S. 131 library, site of the School of One pilot

School of One Design Charrette With a call for innovation from Chancellor Joel Klein, the School of One concept was developed by Joel Rose, Chief Executive for Human Capital in the New York City Department of Education. Among its unique features, the School of One will utilize technology in several ways: planning a daily, customized instructional program for each student; serving as a way to deliver instruction; and assessing student progress as learning activities are completed.

As a prelude to its National Summit on Technology in the Learning Environment, the American Architectural Foundation (AAF) assembled a resource team of nationally renowned architects to assist the NYC Department of Education in selecting the pilot site and shaping the design of both the pilot facilities and the full–scale school.

Meeting over two days at the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Middle School 131, the site selected for the pilot, the AAF resource team led the NYC team (see list of participants) through a design charrette, a process to visualize the School of One learning environment.

Working together, they created numerous diagrams, drawings, and 3D renderings of the School of One layout and even the look and feel of the spaces. These plans will be refined and tested in the pilot for 7th grade math students that launches July 6, 2009.

Bruce Barrett reviews M.S. 131 floor plans

Diagrams of how the School of One could be organized

“In

the end we went from being separated by

geography, experiences and professions to be-

coming one team where we all worked/created together and owned the results.”

John Weekes Architect, Resource Team Chair

Study showing various flexible and fixed configurations

“I

3D rendering of School of One pilot design

would describe the two day experience as giving the students the best environment

for them to succeed.”

David Lai Teacher, M.S. 131

Design for School of One Pilot After entering through a “Porch,” students will find themselves in the “Omega” room—a large, central learning space with monitors displaying their daily schedules and discrete learning sub-spaces. Off the Omega setting are additional learning spaces with either flexible configurations (“Alpha”) or one of seven options of fixed configurations (“Beta”) for personalized instruction.

Students will be able to learn through a variety of instructional modalities including large and small group instruction, peer tutoring, individual tutoring, asynchronous instruction (self-paced software, online games), synchronous instruction (virtual tutors), and independent learning.

Plan showing the library organized around a central learning space, the Omega, with smaller group learning spaces throughout

Ron Bogle with the resource team: John Weekes, Susan Wolff, and John Pfluger

Participants NYC Team Bruce Barrett, RA Vice President for Architecture and Engineering New York City School Construction Authority

Resource Team John Pfluger, AIA, LEED A.P. Principal Cuningham Group Architects

Mohammad Riza Design Director Wireless Generation

Susan J. Wolff, Ed.D. Director Wolff Designs

David Lai 6th Grade Math Teacher M.S. 131

Joel Rose Chief Executive for Human Capital New York City Department of Education Jonathan Skolnick Manager of Program Operations New York City Department of Education

John M. Weekes, AIA Founding Principal Dull Olson Weekes Architects, Inc. AAF Team Ronald Bogle, Hon. AIA President & CEO American Architectural Foundation Linda Hales Contributing Editor American Architectural Foundation

Photos by Moriza. Illustrations and renderings by the Resource Team