This school is proposed to be situated on a ravine in Columbus, OH. It is inspired by the rationalist movement, specifically Giuseppe Terragni’s Asilo Infantile Sant’Elia. Some key features pulled included the use of large windows, accessible courtyards, and simple orthogonal geometry.

While Terragni’s proposal was plan oriented, this site was opportune for a sectional move. Given the site, the classrooms are situated into a bar that bridges one side of the ravine to the other. This allows students views of the landscape while still allowing occupation in the micro valley below.

While the ravine provides ample foliage for sun shading, the other side of the bar is without similar coverage. For this, there is a sun shading masonry screen in front of these floor to ceiling windows. This also creates a privacy screen between the classroom corridor and the bustling street it faces.

There are circulation and service cores on either end of the classroom bar, so access to class is available on either side of the ravine.

To bridge across the ravine, large cylindrical columns are used. By lightly touching the ground, they give the school an appearance similar to the trees of the ravine below.

model view of circulation

model view of masonry sun shading