glaserworks
Cincinnati Public Schools
Clark Montessori is the first public Montessori high school in the United States. The existing building on Erie will be demolished in the fall of 2008 to make way for the new, 102,000 sf school.
The new building consists of a one-story horizontal bar that contains administration and the commons. Above the horizontal bar sits a three-story high vertical bar that contains classrooms. Uses in the commons include the cafeteria, a stage, art and music classrooms, a gymnasium, language labs, administratiive offices and building services. The second floor of classroom wing contains five paired junior high classrooms. The third floor and the fourth floor each contains two team-teaching modules that consist of three regular and one science classroom. Special education and rooms for multi-handicapped students are distributed throughout the four floors.
Although the classroom block was made narrow for programmatic reasons, the relatively short distance between the inside and outside walls are an aid to day-lighting. The north-to-south orientation of the classroom bar means that each of the classrooms will have exposure to daylight in either the morning or the afternoon.
Because contact with nature is an integral part of Montessori education, the building has been tightly integrated into the site. The roof of the one-story bar will be vegetative. We have designed the green roof so that it will appear to have grown out of the hillside to the east. The walls of this part of the building will be made of alternating smooth and rough textured material so that the bar appears to be stratified as though it were a limestone outcropping.
The site of the school will be organized into five areas: an arboretum adjacent to Erie Avenue, an arrival court and service yard, the Civic Commons (soccer field), Nature's Classroom (the ravine), and the green roof, which will contain outdoor classrooms. A series of pathways will connect the five areas. Among the demonstrations of a sustainable approach to the landscape are rainwater harvesting, pervious pavements, and bio-filtration basins.
The parking lot will be set well back and screened by berms and vegetation so that passers-by along Erie Avenue will not see any vehicles. The healthy existing trees in the front yard will be retained and supplemented by specimen trees to form an arboretum.