Crossroads School Student Charrette
Dates: March 20-21, 2019 & June 18-20, 2019
Location: Baltimore, MD
School: Crossroads School
Construction Dollars Impacted: $50,000,000
Project Impact:
In March 2019, the RAS Design Team worked with the Living Classrooms Foundation to better understand its facility needs and challenges. RAS developed a facility design strategy to connect the East Harbor Campus in Fells Point to the nearby Baltimore Target Investment Zone location, home to many of the Foundation's programs. Some of Living Classrooms’ goals included utilizing all owned facility resources, increasing the efficiency of existing building use, maximizing the use of limited land area, and increasing the connection between all the Foundation's programs. The facility strategy set the groundwork for a June charrette focused on The Crossroads School.
RAS's second engagement involved two Design Teams strategizing how best to expand Baltimore's Crossroads Middle School into a K-12 school. One team's hyper-local focus approach built off of the school's environmental themes and connection to the Chesapeake Bay. The second team focused on the school's mentorship program connecting with the school's business partners, many of whom had moved into the new high rise office towers adjacent to the Crossroads campus.
A unique aspect of the Crossroads charrettes: the school's Design Team was almost entirely middle school students.
The Crossroads School, together with other Living Classroom programs, will influence an entire community of children, adults, and seniors. Living Classrooms, dissatisfied with the industrial age of school design, sought RAS's expertise to create change opportunities for Baltimore City students and families. Recognizing that the place where students learn and teachers teach matters, Living Classrooms' progressive strategy toward education meets students where they are, with spaces designed to support an innovative approach for student success.
Partnering Organization: Living Classrooms Foundation
Financial Partner: Bloomberg Philanthropies
In-Kind Partner: Maryland Institute College of Art Center for Social Design