Lacking space for required additional classrooms, the challenge for this New York City Community charter school was to create a hybrid design that would provide quality spaces for learning that were flexible, removable, cost-effective acoustically quiet and aesthetically delightful. The final resolution entailed relocating athletics to the school exterior and re-purposing the school gymnasium into a Pre-Fab Learning Landscape.

A Sustainable Solution

The Pre-Fab Learning Landscape is an ideal sustainable strategy for it can be re-configured, removed, re-purposed, relocated and recycled. Moreover energy savings from factory insulated walls, LED lighting, quick build time, minimum waste and improved air quality during construction, make it the ultimate sustainable solution for schools in need of jumpstarting flexible, cost-effective learning environments.

A Flexible Learning Solution

The Pre-Fab Learning Landscape multi-functions to create changeable environments that suit variable learning styles and programmatic needs. The brightly colored “classroom buildings”, in their most basic iteration, serve as three traditional teaching spaces. The area between the classrooms and perimeter gymnasium walls, visible from space enlarging classroom windows, creates a place for flexible small group learning. By opening a series of large-scale whiteboard clad sliding doors, this interstitial space can easily transform into a flexible location for a variety of sizable learning situations from dance performances to community meetings.

A Streamlined Construction Solution

Factory built, the Pre-Fab Learning Landscape classrooms are made of metal framing clad in two-sided infill panels, bright colored metal on the exterior and acoustically private gypsum board on the interior. Connections to base building mechanical electrical and fire-protection systems run in the zone between the classroom metal roofs and the gymnasium ceiling.