primary school design project

cheryl123

Hi,
I am a final year interior architecture student and currently designing a primary school for my thesis. I was wondering if there are any teachers/students/parents that have either complaints or compliments about the design of a school they use just so I can get a better idea of what people want, anything from the classroom to the corridors. thanks!

byhookorbycrook

Our school is the prototype of a school of its size. Most Staffrooms need to be bigger.

Ideally the learning support/resource teachers would be side by side with a common/shared area for resources like library books/games.

Hall that can stand indoor hurling and has ajoining space for storage of portable stage and chairs for meetings.

Walls that you can stick thumbtacks in,as blu-tack doesn't hold things for long.

More than one woman's and one man's toilet for a staff of anything over 8 teachers-don't forget about SNAs, shared teachers, ancillary staff like caretakers and the secretary.Ditto car parking space for staff, safe parking for buses/parents/set down

Proper dividing walls- not partitions between children's toilets to stop curious smallies peering underneath!

Outside access to a PE store so children can bring out equipment without traipsing through the school in football boots.

Vast amounts of storage needed in every school,for books,copies, charts, software/laptops/art and craft supplies, concrete materials for maths.

A meeting room that can be used for meeting with parents/OTs/NEPS psycholgists/doctors,preferably near the main entrance.

Fire doors/classroom that small children can open without having to hurtle at them in pairs.

cheryl123

Thats all a great help thanks very much! I agree about the storage I think its definately an issue in many schools. Good tip about the PE storage having an outdoor entrance I didnt think of that. Thanks again!

E.T.

If it was an ideal school it would also have a quiet area, where children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder or Emotional/Behaviour difficulties could be taken out by their SNA (again - ideal school!) so that they could have time to regain calm, away from the other children.

Ayla

I don't know what size school you're going for here, and I know there are significant design differences b/w here & the States, but where I went to (primary) school (Stateside) we had a great design:

The entire school was arranged around a central library which had small meeting/special needs rooms attached. The main office/admin & staff areas were also connected to this central core.

From this core were what we called pods - about 3-4 open classrooms with a shared central space. You could look across this space & see the other classes but it wasn't a problem for concentration/noise. This space then gave an area where combined activities/rainy day play could occur since the classes sharing the same space were the same age & shared the same schedule. There were about 4 pods in the school, and then a seperate area for the kindergarteners (ie: junior/senior infant age) b/c they only went in for half-day.

The cafeteria doubled as a hall for concerts/meetings/community events & had a small stage. It was located at the front entrance for ease of access & to keep food smells from circulating through the whole school.

The gym was located next to the playing fields/playground at the back of the school & away from the classrooms so the noise didn't bother the classes.

The gym & cafeteria were joined by the main hallway (off which the hallways for the pods went) so noise of transitioning kids didn't affect the rest of the school.

Not sure I'm doing a good job explaining this, but if you can imagine a spider's web this was similar.

cheryl123

great description!! thats all brilliant and I've researched a few american primary schools a lot seem to have the central communal idea I think it seems to work really well. Thanks so much for your help and thanks E.T. also a good point!

J.R.

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

Our school is the prototype of a school of its size. Most Staffrooms need to be bigger.

Ideally the learning support/resource teachers would be side by side with a common/shared area for resources like library books/games.

Hall that can stand indoor hurling and has ajoining space for storage of portable stage and chairs for meetings.

Walls that you can stick thumbtacks in,as blu-tack doesn't hold things for long.

More than one woman's and one man's toilet for a staff of anything over 8 teachers-don't forget about SNAs, shared teachers, ancillary staff like caretakers and the secretary.Ditto car parking space for staff, safe parking for buses/parents/set down

Proper dividing walls- not partitions between children's toilets to stop curious smallies peering underneath!

Outside access to a PE store so children can bring out equipment without traipsing through the school in football boots.

Vast amounts of storage needed in every school,for books,copies, charts, software/laptops/art and craft supplies, concrete materials for maths.

A meeting room that can be used for meeting with parents/OTs/NEPS psycholgists/doctors,preferably near the main entrance.

Fire doors/classroom that small children can open without having to hurtle at them in pairs.

Brilliant list!

I would also add:

- skylights in all classes & corridors to provide as much light as possible

- blinds on all windows / skylights for video / whiteboard / projector use

- corridors & classroom walls lined with notice boards to display work

- sound-proofing in P.E. area

-

cheryl123

Brilliant thanks so much J.R. !!

Libra1

cheryl123 wrote: »

Brilliant thanks so much J.R. !!

Too add to above..
1. A storage room In Each classroom to take books.. art supplies..etc.

2. A school garden area with seating. Quiet area maybe for readers to go to. Doesn't have to take to too much space. Away from the footballers on yard!

3. Meeting rooms a must for case conferences.

4. Junior yard is not concrete surface

5. Distance from class to yard is minimal. With relevant yard beside class. Ie juniors near Jr yard.

Will post more as think of it.

cheryl123

great thank you!

CIARAN_BOYLE

a typical primary school in Ireland that takes 8 years of students. The school I was at would only send 2 classes out to yard together (danger of violence was multiplied if big kids were with smaller ones) infants, first and second, third and fourth and fifth and sixth. For that reason there was two yards (and different lunch breaks)

Access is an issue for a lot schools its a big issue as there is poor access for parents to drop kids off. Safe drop off zones and an area where trafic can flow. However I don't think its something you can address in your thesis

The school I went to had a fire exit for every five class rooms. One thing I remember as being very good was that the fire exits were built logically and also served as exit/entrances at the beginning and end of the day.