Meredith Williams - Principal, NRHS
In our one-day design charrette last spring, lead designer Sherry Mason Brown, designer Laurie Korth, and architect Jeff Austin led more than 20 stakeholders through the design process. The stakeholder teams exceeded our expectations by developing exciting prototypes for our 9th grade design lab space. In a final presentation, the teams pointed out interesting pieces of furniture they imagined: a stage that could fold away, small rolling seats, a coffee or smoothie bar, and chairs that created secluded cave spaces suspended from the ceiling, and most of all, plants. As I listened to their presentations, I mused at their mini prototypes: boxes filled with popsicle sticks and scraps to emulate furniture. Then, suddenly, I was overcome with a sense of nervous dread! Our design lab space once a media center, had bookshelves and an extremely oversized circulation desk. It was the opposite of the teams’ bright and colorful prototypes with its collection of uniform grey tables and green chairs. The media center furniture was traditionally functional but not the innovative, modular, and individualized pieces our teams envisioned. For the first time in this process, overwhelmed with the magnitude of the change, I thought we might not be able to make this transformation happen. The night before the charrette I had flipped through some school furniture magazines. Not only did these companies not offer the types of furniture my stakeholders envisioned, but I could only imagine how much this type of furniture would cost! As we packed up the prototypes at the charrette’s conclusion, I picked up a ketchup-cup-turned-modular-seat that fell from one of the boxes and asked Sherry Mason Brown, “where do you even buy stuff like this!?!” Over the next few months, Sherry, Laurie, and Jeff began to boil the prototypes down to their key components, and a conceptual plan came together. First of all, the space needed to be neutralized, so the circulation desk and most of the furniture would be removed. The entire space would be painted white, with the addition of 2 sheetrock accent panels. All trim, rails, and stairs would be painted gray. The new design would have a space for a campfire setting that could easily morph into watering holes on the main floor. The mezzanine would serve primarily as caves with flexibility for watering holes as well. Bright and flexible furniture would populate the space. Seating would be at varying heights to accommodate all personal preferences. A long “family table” would occupy a space by a countertop where smoothies could be served. The plans were beautiful. But again I asked, “Where is all this furniture going to come from?” Sherry Mason Brown, a Senior Program Strategist for OFS, suggested that her company may be able to help. When she explained to the leadership team at OFS our True North process, the design-work our students were doing, and the need in the community, the company went above and beyond to provide our students with the furniture for FREE! They pitched our story to one of their textile suppliers, CF Stinson, who provided the upholstery fabric free of charge as well. In December our students helped unload two 18-wheeler trucks delivering the OFS furniture. The design lab, filling with boxes, intensified the students’ anticipation of what the space may become. Some upper classmen assisted with the unpacking of boxes, to save the finished product surprise for the 9th graders who use the space. Our upper school interior design class led by their teacher Leigh Ann Alexander, arranged the furniture following the designers’ specifications – a real application of their course content. When Sherry, Laurie, and Jeff helped put the finishing touches on the final day of installation, we pulled pictures of the original prototypes and compared the beautiful OFS furniture to the design charrette plans. It was satisfying to see how the OFS furniture met each of the stakeholder’s expectations. OFS’ The Edge collection allowed for stage and campfire combinations with fun, colorful fabrics and natural finishes, making the space comfortable but not too precious for high school students to work in. OFS explains on their website that “The Edge frees us from conventional work patterns.” Exactly what we intended to do in the design labs! The overwhelming generosity of OFS can be seen in the finished space. In addition to leading the design charrette and furnishing the maker materials, Morgan Cason, their Workplace Innovation Strategist, specified the final design. The OFS leadership team envisioned a space that would inspire the students, not just a few used pieces out of a warehouse, so they donated 2 floors of brand-new furniture! The talents of Sherry, Laurie, Jeff, and Morgan can be seen in the way the selection and arrangement of pieces work together to support the learning, designing, and creating that occurs daily in the space. The students and staff of North Rowan High School could never express the depth of our gratitude to OFS and the talented designers for making our charrette and instructional space dreams a reality.
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AuthorMeredith Williams is the principal at NRHS. A graduate of NRHS and an community member, Mrs. Williams is invested in the success of the NRHS student population. ArchivesCategories |