Schools

Schools are noble projects. They are places for education and can be teaching tools themselves. Beyond the school day they may serve as community centers and house outreach programs. They host a multitude of extracurricular activities. Students, staff and volunteers spend large parts of their days in schools. In addition to their social responsibilities, urban schools, as most of glaserworks' are, have a civic responsibility to reinforce and improve the fabric of the city into which they are woven.

Schools, especially public schools, can also be among the most challenging projects. They must typically be economical to build, maintain and operate while remaining--not just humane--but inspirational as well. They must be environmentally as well as fiscally responsible. Schools are not the product of one person's or even one entity's needs and desires but result rather from the collaborative efforts of students, staff, owners, designers, neighbors and communities at large.

glaserworks is experienced at reconciling the necessary and practical with the emotional, the concrete with the aspirational. We are adept at building consensus between the diverse and often conflicting groups with interests in a school's design. There is, at glaserworks, a dedicated core of individuals who design schools because we believe in the inherent nobility of these buildings and because they allow us to fulfill one of our highest purposes as architects: the use of the built environment for the betterment of society.