Beyond the Classroom

Site View of Springfield Neighborhood School
Jacksonville, Florida

At the beginning of this semester I was approached to design a Charter School in Jacksonville, Florida. I took the offer immediately. Did I know a single thing about Institutional Design? ...Well, I go to school at an institution and I've been a kindergartener, 1st, and 2nd grader a few years ago. But the real answer to that question was no. I didn't know anything about appropriate FF&E for a project like this or what psychological aspects of interior design had to be implemented to make the space successful. ADA, fire, and building codes had to be used of course but that was all I knew.

Letterhead Design
Signifying community, diversity
and children. 

As a designer, I was taught you never say no to a job unless you know you aren't capable of the work. I got a team together to start researching the odds and ends of anything and everything having to do with designing for children and a teaching environment. Appropriate materials, furnishings, codes, etc. were looked at, types of teaching behaviors, children, and other institution were researched. A conceptual design of classrooms K-2 were in the process of being created in our minds and on paper.
Beyond interior design, I love to design exteriors and graphics as well. For a kick off party I was asked to do an exterior rendering of the potential building. The Springfield Neighborhood School would be utilizing 24 1000sq. ft. houses in the Jacksonville, Florida area. Each building would house a single classroom for grades K-2 and additional grades once the charter school expands, administration, cafeteria, library and gymnasium.

Exterior School House: Style1

Exterior School House: Style 2

Unfortunately, the committee didn't receive city approval for the building of the school because of insufficient funding. They are in the process of appearing before the city again, but till then the school is on hold. I enjoyed learning about institutional design and provided my team and I valuable information we wouldn't have received in our schooling. I'd like to thank the members of the school board for giving me the opportunity to design their school and hopefully in the future my team can finish what we started.

-Jamie Krywicki