by: Emily Nemens
Event: Good Schools: Inside and Out
Location: Center for Architecture, 05.28.09
Speakers: Paul Broches, FAIA, LEED AP – Partner, Mitchell/Giurgola Architects; Ned Smyth – Sculptor; Sally Young — Assistant Principal, Forest Hills High School
Moderator: Michele Cohen — Director, Public Art for Public Schools & Author, Public Art for Public Schools (Monacelli Press, 2009)
Organizers: School Construction Authority; AIANY Architecture for Education Committee
Perhaps the most pertinent question of the evening came from a sculptor and concerned parent whose middle schooler is competing for a spot in one of the many over-crowded NYC schools. “Why make art when we need more seats?” At a recent discussion about what makes good schools, Michele Cohen, director of Public Art for Public Schools, addressed the question by examining the history of art in the city’s schools, the subject of her recent book Public Art for Public Schools (Monacelli Press, 2009).
Cohen presented some of the city’s early public schools, the neo-gothic fortresses designed by CBJ Snyder. Those schools have stood the test of time, largely because so much effort was put into their construction, she stated. What the impressive façades of those buildings prove is that building schools is about more than using sturdy, cost effective materials. It’s about investing in the schoolhouse as a center of civic pride.
Cohen shared the lectern with Paul Broches, FAIA, LEEP AP, partner at Mitchell/Giurgola Architects, sculptor Ned Smyth, and Sally Young, assistant principal at Forest Hills High School, who focused on a recent addition to the city’s roster of school buildings. At the Mitchell/Giurgola Architects-designed P.S. 156/I.S. 392 in Brownsville, Brooklyn, Ned Smyth, known throughout the U.S. for his site-specific public art installations, was selected to design and install a work in the new school’s staircase. A wall of colored-glass tiles, whose light spills out onto the Sutter Avenue-facing courtyard, rises along a monumental stair linking an auditorium, dance and music studios, and gymnasium.
After Cohen’s historical perspective on which buildings had become icons within NYC’s schools, P.S. 156/I.S. 392 represents a new point of pride. Central to the project is the artist/architect collaboration, but it is also the building’s public face — the inlaid-glass wall is visible from the courtyard and the street. For Smyth, it created a fun, impromptu stage for the kindergarten through eighth-grade students tromping up and down the stairs; Broches’ intent was for the transparent, light-filled space to draw the community into the building. The result of their collaboration was an icon for the neighborhood, and a sense of pride for the students, Broches stated.
Whether it’s a mural or an inspiring entryway, making schools into buildings that the community cares about is worth the effort, Cohen and the panelists all believe. As the School Construction Authority embarks on its biggest building campaign in history, it will be interesting to see how Cohen’s lessons are realized in the next generation of NYC schools.
Emily Nemens is the AIANY Communications Coordinator.