case history: a new school campus

case history: a new school campus

This is the story of a beautiful Sonoran Desert site adjacent to a wash flowing down from the Finger Rocks north of Tucson, Arizona, donated to the Tucson Waldorf School.

The site floods, and large volumes of sand get deposited when it does, and the site is a protected landscape, a rural historic landscape certified by the Department of the Interior, meaning a huge swath of it facing the main road is highly scrutinized for adherence to an historic mythology.

This beautiful 10 acre site was donated to the Tucson Waldorf School, and on it they envisioned building a new campus.  We were fortunate to become the designers.

We assembled a team for an integrated project delivery, including mechanical, electrical, plumbing, structural, civil, landscape and construction management consultants, and explored the project with the client in extensive charettes involving the entire school community. Discussions focused on sustainability and anthroposophy, a philosophy articulated by Rudolph Steiner in the early 20th century upon which the Waldorf system is based.  Regarding architecture, the philosophy emphasizes dialectics or juxtaposing opposites and eschews right angles, but a detailed explanation is impossible here.

Early explorations of the site plan assumed entry to the site from the main road, placing parking and driveway in the protected landscape on the main road and pushing the school back away from the street noise.  An early metaphor about beehives and the anthroposophic injunction against right angles suggested a planning grid based on hexagons, which drove these early schemes.

Ultimately however, the addition to the program of a soccer field forced a complete rethinking of the site plan, the soccer field could only go into the protected streetfront area, and entry to the site was moved back to the side street:

The heart of this final conceptual site plan was the construction of four islands, one each for administration, early childhood, grades 1-8, and group functions (auditorium/gymnasium/support).  The islands would raise the buildings and play areas out of the floodplain, and would be connected with bridges to highlight their independence. Classrooms are pushed to the back, quieter part of the site, and the athletic and performance venue faces the main road.  We imagined school events this visible to the community driving by would be a tremendous calling card for the school.  The plan also articulated a three phase construction plan: Phase 1 in orange, Phase 2 in blue, and Phase 3 in pink.  With a site concept in place, we began schematic design of phase 1.

Our perception that in early childhood especially, children love to occupy corners suggested keeping the hexagonal rooms that were originally generic placeholders.  The hexagons were exceptional as rooms, and also wonderfully fluid in clusters, making this an important decision. They also avoided right angles, the anthroposophic concern nicely addressed.

 In the upper grades too, the hexagons allowed for straightforward orthogonal seating but offered apses for a teacher's desk and secondary activities.  Here we warped the hexagons in order to expand the teaching wall, and opened the rooms fully to the site behind the student seating to allow for connection without creating distraction.  Lockers and toilet facilities occupy the courtyard around which the Grades classrooms cluster.

The administration building proved quite straightforward, serving as an entry to the three other clusters and the site, maintaining a secure site entrance, and establishing a home base for the staff.

Three dimensionally, we experimented with a number of different building sections.  Our objectives were to provide a superior building envelope, maximize daylight, address anthroposophic concerns, and create a superior teaching environment.  Our experience in the Sahara Desert had proven the superiority of earth as a desert building medium, and rammed earth was our original intent.

Advice from the contractor regarding cost and constructibility led us to steel or wood frames with structural insulated panel (SIP) skins topped with stucco.  Extensive shading, sloped walls and columns to avoid right angles, and a subdued desert color palette were additional objectives.

Delivery of the schematic design package, consisting also of input from each consultant and a cost estimate from the contractor, was met with concern by the Grades teachers who were unconvinced by the hexagonal classrooms.  We produced an extensive comparison of different options, and decided ultimately as a group that the original design served them best.

At this point, key members of the Board of Directors left the project and the school, including most significantly, the head of the Board and key driver of the project.  The cost estimate came in very high, but there was no opportunity to explore construction options or scope changes that might bring the project in line. The new head of the Board had a very different vision for the school and another architect to carry it out.  A year later, the school built some modest classroom buildings that eliminated any possibility of our plan coming to fruition, and so we chalk this one up to experience and that realm of truly exceptional possibilities that will never be fulfilled.