O A K L A N D C O U N T Y D E V E L O P M E N T t
The heart of the building is the Knowledge Market – a hub that connects the functions of a library, classroom and student union.
The high school is believed to be the first in Michigan to not only embrace but propel new pedagogy through design. Simply put: Where and how you engage a student directly impacts how well he or she learns. Eschewing the factory-like form of 20th
Century high schools, Bloomfield Hills High School holds surprises around every corner. The soul of the building is embodied in nine learning communities, each of which is owned by a team of teachers. All of the communities are rich in technology and
PROJECT FOCUS ruled by flexibility. A variety of learning spaces, support a variety of learning styles; lecture, peer-to-peer, collaborative, projectbased and interdisciplinary instruction are all easily supported. The heart of the building is the Knowledge Market – a hub that connects the functions of a library, classroom and student union. Research tells us that educational and social cohesion are likely to occur over a shared meal. That’s why the high school features a distributed dining model, with serveries on each floor to allow for a graband-go or small group discussions over a more leisurely lunch. With their visionary charge from the education leaders in Bloomfield Hills, Stantec also conducted a unique research project – a one-and-a-half-year furniture pilot program. During this time, teachers and students put many elements of the preliminary design to the test, working with various furniture and space configuration solutions. The results richly informed the final design, as the one which best supported the school’s pedagogical and cultural shift. The new building seamlessly joins portions of the old Andover high school, presenting one unified and distinctive exterior. The old high school is wedded to the new building by a central double height thoroughfare, along which all of the core academic areas are accessed. The Stantec architecture and interior design team brought valuable experience designing college and university Schools of Education. As a result, they were well versed in how the next generation of teachers is being trained and the type of instructional space they will require. Stantec welcomed the opportunity to design a school that would best meet these emerging pedagogy requirements within a vibrant, groundbreaking community building. Stantec’s project team includes Tod Stevens, Lee Andrea, Patrick Kanary, Rick Bez, Sean Gross, Alexis Kim, Nicole Vanstone, Scott Roberts and Ewa Virga.
38 CAM MAGAZINE JULY 2015
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