A PSFK Good Idea For The Future: Focusing Design and Innovation on Schools

This past year, PSFK took notice of a number of new schools around the world that used planning and design thinking to create interesting new environments for learning. Prior to the recent economic downturn, commercial projects with giant budgets were able to push innovation in architecture and design forward. Now the money and need for new commercial buildings and retail stores are pretty low leaving architects scrambling to look for work.

Schools in the US have been a magnet for criticism and a chronic problem. But for architects and designers, there is an immense amount of opportunity to inject creative thinking and innovation. Schools may be the big architectural story of 2009.

We’ve got our eyes on three new school projects in particular. The Central Los Angeles Area High School #9 for the visual and performing arts is set to open for classes in September of 2009. Austrian architects Coop Himmelb(l)au are responsible for the design.

The Cooper Union’s new academic building in NYC by Morphosis will open soon. The building will include high standards of sustainability, durability and flexibility.

Also in NYC the new Juilliard School for the study of dance, drama, and music is set to be completed in 2009. Diller Scofidio+Renfro‘s design of the nearly 100,000 square foot expansion/renovation of the original 1960′s Pietro Belluschi building will reveal the interior of the school to the street through extensive use of glass and cantilevered rooms.

Catch up on some of the other schools we’ve featured this past year here:

The New Westminster City Academy Inspires Learning
Cool Schools
Fuji Kindergarten Fosters Open Learning
Modern Brazilian Nursery School
Cool Schools:Fall Semester Edition