Claude Watson School for the Arts
Design: Kohn Shnier Architects
Image Credits: Tom Arban Photography
The complex program of this building accommodates a specialty school that emphasizes the arts through an enriched curriculum. As such, the spaces are flexible and thoughtfully arranged over three levels.The rectangular building hews closely to the street on its dense inner-suburban site, and the spectacular honeycomb facade, looking out over the schoolyard, communicates with passing traffic.
From the elevated front doors, the plan is highly transparent. A light-filled atrium to one side reveals a corridor below (wide enough to accommodate rolling bass drums and other equipment). A nearby peephole gives the school’s artistic director a bird’s-eye view of the atrium. And an off-kilter composition of fluorescent lighting tubes adds a bit of whimsy to a wall for student art. To allow for large uninterrupted spans, the architects specified a structural system of precast concrete planks. Because these provide inherent fire separation, there was no need for drop ceilings, creating studio-like spaces with exposed ducts and extra height.
