Big Ideas: School and Work

There’s nothing elementary about these five education projects:

1. Firm: Ctrl G Estudio de Arquitectura
Project: Jardín Infantil Buen Comienzo Carpinelo
Location: Medellin, Colombia

Idea: The Jardín Infantil Buen Comienzo Carpinelo, a Ctrl G Estudio de Arquitectura project, is high on a mountain above Medellin, Cololmbia, where the local government, long a champion of design’s power to change cities, has remained steadfast in the commitment to bring schools and libraries to poor neighborhoods.

2. Firm: Kem Studio
Project: Académie Lafayette
Location: Kansas City, Missouri

Idea: At Academie Lafayette, a charter school in Kansas City, Missouri, Kem Studio constructed a playground with a bridge built from wood-composite planks more commonly used for decking.

3. Firm: Taylor Smyth Architects
Project: West Preparatory Junior Public School
Location: Toronto

Idea: Taylor Smyth Architects added a multipurpose room to Toronto’s West Preparatory Junior Public School for eating lunch, holding music classes, playing games, and hosting community meetings. Brightly painted plywood surrounds the windows, placed to frame the sky or the jungle gym from child height.

4. Firm: Saucier + Perrotte Architectes
Project: John Abbott College’s Anne-Marie Edward Science Building
Location: Montreal

Idea: Old ginkgo trees are a rarity in Montreal, so Saucier + Perrotte Architectes designed John Abbott College’s Anne-Marie Edward Science Building in a boomerang shape to spare a century-old specimen tree. Off a six-story atrium, the academic departments can be reached like branches off a trunk.

5. Firm: Studioninedots

Project: Child Center Zeeburgereiland

Location: Amsterdam

Idea: Amsterdam’s modular integral Child Center Zeeburgereiland is built to grow—a 6,500-square-foot addition could be completed over a six-week summer holiday.