Today's schools might not be as attractive as some of the old schools, but they are certainly more energy efficient.
And they are much more attractive than the schools built in the 70's and 80's which looked like prisons with no windows. I can't imagine where that architectural idea came from.
I also notice that many of the new schools have gone back to multi storied, which is much more land efficient.

L. E. on 20th September 2019 @ 10:14am

I still have my solid oak chair which my parents had to supply at Coe Primary, 1952

Roger Sheldrake on 20th September 2019 @ 10:19am

L.E., if there are no windows the kids can't spend the classroom time staring out them, wishing they were outside.

ArthurB on 20th September 2019 @ 12:14pm

My dad said that is why he ran away from home. He was a farm boy, from a two room country school that went through the 8th grade. Then the farm kids had to go to the big town, and big high school. The one thing my dad was really interested in was shop class, but the administration said shop class was reserved for the city kids. Farm kids already knew how to work in a shop.
Dad said he was sitting in class one day looking out the window at a robin sitting in the tree. He said the robin was more free and happy than he was. So he ran away from school and home.

He eventually came back home, but not back to school.

L. E. on 20th September 2019 @ 2:24pm

Daughter did the same thing - went to college on Sitka Island. Sitting in class watching the whales swimming by out in the ocean, and realized they were doing what they wanted to do. So she dropped out and got a job working at the South Pole.

nels on 20th September 2019 @ 6:11pm

These newer designs (and frankly the old May Street design, which I loved) make me think about the European “Blue-Green” architectural guidelines. Buildings following these guidelines make it so that every permanent work space can see actual growing plants and real sunlight. They figured out that it leads to much less sick time and unhappiness at work…. in this case, fewer kids feeling like they’re trapped in a dungeon.

Kyle on 24th September 2019 @ 10:10am

For posterity's sake: A lot of the reason they weren't quite done with the exterior element of the new school when the students started had to do with surprises during demolition / construction. They found a large fuel oil tank buried by the old school that no one knew about (and it wasn't empty!), and then when they went to create ADA accessible curb cuts on the sidewalks, they found utilities buried too shallow to allow it without relocating them deeper. Always surprises, I guess, with these projects. But the students all tell me they're loving the new building.

Kyle on 25th September 2019 @ 8:39am