How can the intermingling of people be advocated through the design of a school? Formal learnings happen in classrooms, but informal learnings evolve throughout the day and occur in all spaces. With emphatic communal spaces traversing each other, spontaneous encounters are extended. Different program groups are intentionally positioned adjacent to each other to encourage informal interactions across ages and school disciplines. Circulation is designed to be personalized and hybridized. Human flows diverge in individual classrooms and converge in elaborate transitional pathways. The school’s compressions and expansions of spatial volumes generate playful experiences for the students to adapt to their diverse emotional and physiological needs. Moreover, working on a 24-hour clock, the school accommodates not only students, but also the larger local communities. Having the building largely lifted off the ground with four cores and a space truss, the school’s streetscape openness engages with the neighborhood both visually and physically. After official school hours, the street corner serves the public with access to an open-air gym, auditorium, and the library.
