YSC Academy

Wayne, PA

The Academy was designed to create a series of spaces that offer varying degrees of community interaction and reversely varying degrees of individual or private spaces. The repertoire of spaces combine classic educational design with the latest space innovations inspired by the offices of the leaders in technology and other fields such as Google, Apple and Pixar who are reshaping how individuals interact in group environments. At its roots, the layout of the school reflects the classic urban landscape found in a city like Verona where the major institutions are in varying adjacency to a main square or piazza. The student hall is a place for the entire student body to gather and the library, classrooms, and art room, like the major institutions of a city, lie in varying relationship to it. Classroom C, designed to implement the Socratic method of learning, continues to define the levels of communal and private by its juxtaposition to the student hall, its own enclosed space, and the space it creates to south that is tucked in a corner away from the hall but open on two sides so that physical environment between the two is not broken. The Scandinavian architect Herman Hertzberger describes the result as the "nest effect," a feeling of being enclosed at one level but also open to the sky or larger world. The volume of the cylindrical metal kiosk anchors the entire space. Situated at the corner of the student hall, it is akin to an old town clock. It contrasts with the openness of the Steelcase walls of the facing rooms, reinforcing the varying degrees of continuity, connection and community/privacy. The built environment of the school was designed to inspire a sense of citizenship among the students through fostering the community at large. We wanted encourage them to be involved in the larger group but through a sense of their own individuality. These are essential elements for their academic or professional careers. It is the hope of the school that they carry this idea of individuality and citizenship to their lives beyond the Academy.