concordia is a community based planning and design team with a collective passion for the principles of concord. We implement our work through an integrative and participatory process that addresses physical, cultural, social, educational, organizational and economic assets and needs.
The Metropolitan Center, Providence, Rhode Island
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In 1995, the Met Center opened its first small school of 100 students at the Shepherd building in Downtown Providence. During its opening year, the Big Picture Company commissioned Concordia LLC to facilitate a community-based master plan for the future expansion of the downtown campus. The master planning process took place over a six month period, engaging Met Center administrators, teachers, parents and students as well as local business, resident and other non profit stakeholders from the South Providence community. The conclusion was a plan to distribute six to eight small schools of 100-125 students over several downtown and South Providence sites. The second small school opened on Peace Street in 1998.
Foremost among the master planning elements was the notion that the four small schools exist as individual, stand alone buildings housing approximately 115 students each. An important distinguishing component of the small school plan emphasizes flexibility. In lieu of individual classrooms, large spaces, designed on a 16 foot module, are equipped with movable walls and office landscape furnishings in lieu of the institutional standard of fixed classrooms along a double or single loaded corridor.
Another important principle of the master plan that was incorporated into the final design was that the Met Center serve as a neighborhood center for the South Providence community. To accomplish this goal, the four small schools were located on the site independent of common functions that can be shared by the community. A large Fitness Center was constructed that is complete with gymnasium, aerobics and weight rooms and even a rock climbing wall. Another independent structure contains a flexible "black box" theater as well as radio and video production studios. A third structure, known as the Met Center, houses a large dining and multi-purpose hall for student and community activities along with a community health center, a bookstore, administrative offices, and flexible "outreach labs" where students can create their own operating businesses.
In keeping with the community-based theme of the master plan, the new Met Center campus was also designed to integrate with local street patterns and neighborhood scale. In lieu of the standard factory school design model where smaller tracts of land are consolidated into one coherent project site, the design for the new Met Center campus incorporates the existing neighborhood street grid, preserving the size and scale of existing block sizes and street beds. At the center of the campus is a newly created "town square", providing outdoor recreational, festival and performing arts spaces for both the school and community. The square is serviced by controlled vehicular and pedestrian access from all four sides. Fronting on the "town square" outdoor space are entrances to the Met Center, Gymnasium, Auditorium and each of the four small schools.
Another component of the building design addresses the relationship between aesthetic and educational content. In addition to the larger street grid, each facility on the campus is organized along a strict 16 foot building grid. This building module is expressed in both plan and elevation as an educational tool for the study of geometry, proportion and scale. Dozens of similar educational “manifestations” have likewise been incorporated into the project by associated structural, mechanical, electrical and landscaping consultants, resulting in a kind of neo-rationalist “information architecture”.
As the construction documents for the new Met Center campus near completion, and with the early stages of site clearing and demolition already underway, the community-based planning and design process continues. Operational issues related to the joint use of the new Met Center facilities are being reviewed and negotiated through an ongoing series of meetings with local community stakeholders, many of whom were involved in the development of the original master plan. A series of specialized design "charrettes" are underway with teachers and students to determine how to maximumize the benefits of the flexible wall and furnishing systems. The plan is for the process to continue throughout opening and ongoing occupancy of the schools. A design training program
will be instituted as a standard component of the Met Center curriculum allowing the adequacy of the design to be continually researched, evaluated and modified on an ongoing basis by the students and teachers themselves.
Given the opportunity for ongoing training and development, the Metropolitan Center project serves as a national laboratory for research in the design of environments that meet the demands of contemporary learning strategies. There is much to be learned from teachers and students when they are allowed to play an active role in shaping and evaluating their own learning environments.
The research generated by the Met Center with respect to joint use and community engagement is of equal importance. With a new-found national interest in small schools and "schools as centers of community", the Met Center also stands poised to contribute to the expanding body of field research in this area.