Monday, 12 June 2006 | Levent OZLER
Children Choose the Way in East London School
Ranelagh Primary School in London's East End has just taken delivery of its new mobile changing and seating unit designed by architects Eldridge Smerin. "The Big Wooden Wall", is the result of a project that teamed Eldridge Smerin up with a group of pupils from the school who identified the school's longstanding storage problems, created the brief and were the clients. The Sorrell Foundation, who's aim is to inspire creativity in young people and improve the quality of life through good design, initiated the project as part of its 'joinedupdesignforschools' programme.
As is often the case in Victorian schools, storage of equipment and space for pupils to change and hang clothes was increasingly a problem in the central hall areas. At Ranelagh the pupil's brief asked Eldridge Smerin to tackle the problem as pupils were forced to sit on the floor to change, leaving clothes in piles. As the space changed from dance studio to dining hall to games area, furniture and equipment was pushed into corners proving unsightly and a potential safety hazard.
Eldridge Smerin's solution was "The Big Wooden Wall", a freestanding unit on wheels with various roles. A continuous bench with pigeonholes provides seating and storage for pupils while changing their shoes, while on the other side, pegs allow pupils to hang clothes and bags, and provide a screened area for boys and girls to change separately. Castors enable the unit to be moved around easily allowing it to fulfill its final function screening equipment from view when not in use.
Piers Smerin of Eldridge Smerin says, "Through working on this exciting project we were able to give the pupils an insight and understanding of the design process, as well as create a new multifunctional piece of mobile architecture that is bespoke to Ranelagh School, but able to meet the needs of so many other schools with these common storage problems".
Eldridge Smerin: http://www.dexigner.com/directory/detail/7352/
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