Educational: The Latest Architecture and News

Architects: Slowscape Collective Location: London, England Project team: Stuart Franks, Christopher Kennedy, Simon Moxey, Ceri Williams, Thomas Woods Project area: 90 sqm Project year: 2011 Photographs: Stuart Franks, Ceri Williams, Dominic Tschudin

In 2010, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) held a design competition for a flexible solution to replace portable buildings across the district, and HMC Architects accepted the challenge. The district asked them to ignore their standards and put an emphasis on an ideas-based approach. They wanted creative, progressive responses to their problem, not dressed-up modular buildings. They challenged the traditional box shape of the classroom by looking at how the room is used and how it is currently under utilized. Although their design solution, which they named Flex, did not win the competition, their end product is a portable classroom solution that can be used at any school, with hope that their design can inspire other school districts to think differently when it comes to portable classrooms. More images and architects’ description after the break.