A short while ago, we shared Studio 27 Architecture’s Rincon | Bates House, a contemporary re-conceptualized row house in Washington, D.C. The firm’s latest project, a new charter school for D.C., is designed to accommodate a new approach to teaching. The school has adopted a new pedagogy, known as the Paragon Teaching Method – an interesting choice as the school is situated in the US’s capital. This method replaces the traditional way of learning history and encourages an integrated approach that emphasizes how one idea builds on and evolves into another. “In Paragon, students study history across continents, and gain a profound understanding of the manner in which many ideas develop at the same time in independent cultures unaware of the other’s breakthroughs. Through this, students develop a larger picture of history and the associated interrelationships,” explained a Mosaica Education statement.
More about the school, including more images, after the break.
This new teaching method supports the Mosaica teaching model curriculum, an integrated approach to learning where the subjects often become overlapped to form interrelationships. ”The building is designed to exemplify the Mosaica teaching model and physically represent the program inspired within each space,” added the architects.
The building will have 18 classrooms, a full service cafeteria with a commercial kitchen, a gymnasium and a 450 seat auditorium. The classrooms are divided into different sections such as Play + Performance, Visual Arts, or Interdisciplinary.
As the school’s site is defined by traffic congested edges, the Interdisciplinary Studies wing has been raised to create space for parking, while the Play + Performance section is wedged below “to support and stimulate with a panel striation based on musical scores”. The remaining Arts wing folds to connect with an adjacent existing school building via an art gallery.
The school is designed to achieve LEED Silver certification.
