The 24-Hour School in Manhattan’s Lower East Side has been guided by considerations of analog movement, site, and daylight conditions. My analog movement for the semester’s study is skateboarding, a sport that thrives off of mixed materiality, unique intersections, reinterpretation of use, and equilibrium of the body. It has inspired a school and pedagogy based on balance and spontaneity. The school provides balance in a variety of scales of spaces, hard and soft materials, prospect and refuge, indoor and outdoor, and day and nighttime activity. The school enables spontaneity in its non-prescribed interstitial spaces, which provide for the creative and interpretive use of the student. Similar to how skateboarding focuses on balance and spontaneity, the school intends to provide informal and curious learning opportunities for students. Formal operations rely on balancing new masses and carving existing masses—as balance and carving of volume are two verbs central to skateboarding activities.
