Real project review and additional resources

- Our firm worked on several private school projects in Los Angeles and surrounding areas where we provided everything from interior design and furniture procurement to new construction, renovation and planning. Some main issues we encountered time and time again are access to natural light, efficient use of limited spatial resources and yes, storage. Teachers use a lot of materials and it is important to have it all handy without the visual clutter. Sherman Oaks Private School renovation, this project included the renovation of and in addition to an existing structure for an elite K through 12 private school in Sherman Oaks. The lower level was converted into an athletic center and offices for the head of school while the upper level was changed to art classrooms encompassing various disciplines from ceramics and sculpture to painting, photography and video production. The spacial needs of the art classrooms were very specific to the activities taking place. The teaching wall, group activities, wash sinks and drawing racks, all the way to the pottery wheels and counts. We had to be extremely efficient with both the planning and vertical arrangement of components supporting these various activities. Storage played a very important role. We designed built-in cabinets for every specific category of art supplies and equipment and went to such detail to provide vents and outlets for charging a computer equipment within these cabinets. Lighting was also critical especially for the video and photography studios where we needed to provide blackout shades so that natural lighting would not interfere with the students work. Mid Wilshire Private School, when we started working on this urban K through eight school, it was evident that the compact spatial arrangement of the classrooms and other areas would be challenging. Not only did we look to provide a school standard in the typical selection and arrangement of furniture in each classroom, we also had issues with the limitations of the existing spaces. When developing a school standard, we looked to translate the school brand both visually and functionally to every space on their campus. Every classroom has similar components ranging from storage, students' desks and chairs, teachers workstation, all the way to rideable and tackable surfaces so that across the rooms and levels, there's a sense of unity, organization and visual clarity. In some instances, we were able to to rearrange the layout of rooms, such as in the reception and office areas, which helped address the needs of those spaces and others we simply had to work with the existing space and its limitation. The result was a refreshed and streamlined overall design. The education project and our practice are perhaps the ones that we get most joy from knowing that the spaces we design will have a lasting positive impact of the new generations of learners.