Bryker Woods Elementary by Xie Maggie Hill

As the world is rapidly changing it becomes more apparent that classrooms have remained virtually the same. Using Bryker Woods Elementary School as a hypothetical place of intervention, we were asked to consider the principals of Fredric Froebel and other hands-on learning pedagogies to create a space for 5-year-olds that break the current conventions of the standard kindergarten classroom today.

This project intends to create spaces and objects for hands-on learning focusing on Froebelian and Montessori pedagogies which involves providing spaces for self-directed education and discovery.

Initially, this began with examining the relationship of a child to an object or more specifically learning furniture. One instance where this is explored is through an aquaponics enrichment cluster which focuses on the idea of food learning and teaching children interconnectivity.

The same part-whole relationship is examined at a larger scale in the intervention of the building. Two distinct spaces are developed: vibrant and activated learning centers, and a circulation space of unprogrammed learning with natural material expression. Between these systems, thresholds are also considered in order to provide a more gradual transition between space types.

Ultimately this separation intends to allow for further discovery and provide children with diverse learning environments along with program types and furniture variety which only hopes to keep up with a child’s growing imagination.