Design of Facilities

Designing Facilities for Montessori Schools
Page 387 2001 The Montessori Foundation

Montessori Classroom Design
By Tim Seldin
Classrooms should provide enough
floor space to comfortably accommodate
the total number of children enrolled
along with the complete collection of
Montessori educational apparatus,
tables and shelving, and related activity
areas, such as art.
Number of Students in a Class:
The Montessori Foundation
recommends an ideal class size of 25 to
30 students at the early childhood and
elementary level,
representing a three-
year age range
(traditionally ages 3 to 6,
6 to 9, 9 to 12, etc.).
Naturally
circumstances, such as
room size, local
regulations, or the
challenges faced in the
early years when a new
class is being
established, may lead
schools to set up classes
with a smaller group
size.
Size of the Classroom Space: We
strongly recommend that schools allow
a minimum of 35 square feet per student
enrolled, which complies with many
jurisdictions in the United States.
Ideally, the Foundation recommends
a ratio of 50 square feet per student at
the early childhood level, 75 square feet
per student at the elementary level, and
100 square feet per student at the
secondary level.
Charlotte Montessori School, Charlotte, North Carolina
We recognize and anticipate that
few schools will be able to attain this
ideal, with many factors coming into
consideration, most especially local
conditions and climate. For example,
schools in crowded urban environments
may find it financially impractical to
secure larger facilities, and recognize
that their children and adults are
accustomed to smaller amounts of
personal space. In warmer climates,
schools may be able to take excellent
advantage of shaded and semi-shaded
outdoor environments adjacent to each
classroom. Ultimately the final test is
how well the children function within
their environment.
The need for a self-contained
Environment: Classrooms at the
Primary and Elementary levels should
ideally include within each environment
an appropriately sized kitchen,
classroom library, science area/lab,
greenhouse, and art studio. A small
woodshop or hobby workshop is also
highly desirable.
For each class of 25 to 35 students,
we recommend the provision of a large
3 compartment sink for dish washing in
the kitchen, and within the classroom at
least two individual bathrooms to allow
privacy. Avoid multi-stall restrooms.
Traditionally Montessori classes are
designed to create an uncluttered and
beautiful homelike atmosphere. Spaces
with an institutional feel are avoided if
at all possible or their sterile look and
feel is softened by a conscious use of
design elements.
Access to the Outdoor
Environment: Ideally, each class should
have at least two walls facing the
outdoor environment, which again
ideally should be a natural setting of
gardens, forest, or fields. At least one
door should lead outside, allowing
children to freely go in and out to a
prepared outside environment.
The Childrens Garden: Ideally,
each classroom should have a small
garden and outdoor environment
enclosed by a picket fence or perhaps a
Mediterranean style garden wall. Again
ideally, the children should be able to go
outside as they wish to work in the
garden, observe nature, paint, or work
outside.
Windows: Montessori classrooms
should have an abundance of natural
light brought in through an abundance
of attractive windows that can be
opened to allow the air to flow. In
classes designed for younger children,
windows should be selected that reach
down to almost floor height or mounted
lower to the floor to allow small
children to see outside without
stretching.
Avoid Clutter and Traditional
School Posters and Displays The
Montessori class is not supposed to look
or feel like a classroom in the traditional
sense, but rather a comfortable and
inviting home. We do not teach group
Century House Montessori School, Tortola, British Virgin Islands
many lessons in the first place, so we
dont need to use blackboards or
bulletin boards as decorative elements
on the walls.
A few more suggestions:
! Dont try to add color to the room
with eye catching educational
posters.
! At all costs, dont create a display of
twenty five identical art projects
! Avoid cartoon-like posters
! Never feel compelled to hang an
alphabet up along the wall
Instead select carefully chosen
highly quality art reproductions or
original art and hang them around the
room at the childrens eye level. Even
better, provide the children with mattes
and frames and allow them to select and
display individual pieces of their art or
work in an attractive manner. Create
attractive areas for displaying
individual sculptures or projects. Take a
fresh look at how art is displayed in a
fine gallery or art museum.
Lighting: Fluorescent lights can
create a harsh light. Soften the glare
with the light from your windows and
by introducing several attractive floor or
table lamps with shades. Just a little
incandescent light from some lamps can
go a long way to making your
classroom feel like a Childrens House.
Floors: Traditionally Montessori
Childrens Houses had wooden, tile, or
stone floors because that was the norm
in European and North American
buildings at the time. Today wall to wall
carpet is so pervasive, that we tend to
see a normal pattern of a space divided
between carpeted space and a practical
life and art area that is tiled. It is
important that at least the area where
the children work on their practical life
skills and art have a tile or other non-
carpeted floor to avoid damaging the
rug and to provide a hard surface as a
control of error (the little glass pitcher
should break, not bounce, if dropped).
Avoid bland institutional looking tile or
wall to wall carpet. Create the most
attractive and harmonious look and feel
that your budget and creativity allows.
Consider the possibility of wooden
floors or one of the new imitation
wooden flooring materials. The look is
just what most of us dream about
creating in our schools.
Toxic Substances: When selecting
any paint, carpeting, or flooring
material, take care to avoid introducing
something into your indoor
environment to which chemically
sensitive children and adults might
react. Some carpets and paints give off
chemicals that can be real, if not visible,
environmental pollutants.
Plants: Use as many large and small
plants in your environment as possible.
Large ferns, palms, and various
decorative but nontoxic plants help to
soften your environment, create a warm
cozy feeling, help keep your indoor air
healthy, and provide a host of practical
life activities.
Arrange for basic janitorial service to
every room on a daily basis: vacuuming,
tile areas cleaned, bathrooms.
Train your support staff to be
sensitive to the needs of a Montessori
program.
Throw out all of that junk from the
school and storage areas. Create order
out of what remains.
Dont allow your outdoor
environment to look neglected. Keep
your buildings painted, equipment in
good repair, and grounds carefully
tended.
Find space somewhere for a faculty
lounge. Teachers and administrators
should take pride in keeping it neat and
clean.
Many school offices need cleaning,
junk removal, and fancy little touches to
make them comfortable for visitors and
the school staff.
It takes a great deal of money or
donated labor and materials to create
and maintain a first-rate Montessori
environment.
Schools should be aggressive in
getting parents to help fix things up:
parent work parties, special projects, etc.
Develop a written plan for educating
your parents to the need to help.
Creating a Modern Campus With a
Timeless Quality
by
Christopher Gallagher, Vice President
Rampart Homes, Sarasota, Florida
The Field School, Washington, DC
These principles are so much in sync with the Montessori principles. All of the
members of the community become active participants in an ongoing process.
Lorna McGrath
Assistant Headmaster
New Gate School
What if it were possible to create a
school building or even an entire
campus that was as wonderful and as
memorable and as vibrantly alive as any
of the most traveled to, timeless
destinations of the world? And, what if
it were possible to do this in a way that
invited the participation and
involvement and tapped the creative
powers of the entire school community?
Empowered with the idea of these
possibilities becoming reality, the New
Gate School in Sarasota, Florida, has
embarked on a great experiment based
on the award-winning research of
architect Christopher Alexander and his
team of designers at the Center for
Environmental Structure in Berkeley,
California.
Countrysides challenge is to set in
motion a process of repair, renovation,
redesign, and new construction that:
creates an ongoing, adaptable
plan of action for a quickly
expanding ten-year-old campus;
upholds a high standard of
exemplary design excellence; and
accomplishes all of this through a
method that is fundamentally
consistent with the Montessori
philosophy.
During the course of the past couple
of years, rapid growth has brought the
same problem to New Gate that has
occurred at countless college campuses
since the 1960s. The founders simple,
bucolic vision of a learning environment
gently intermingled with nature has
been slowly disintegrated by the
demands of an ever growing
population. In order to stem the tide,
New Gate has created a vision and a
process for guiding all future design
and construction activity.
New Gates vision is of a lovingly
cared for, nurturing campus with a
timeless quality that is aesthetically,
ecologically, and practically appropriate
for its subtropical Florida setting. Just as
important, however, is the unique
process that will deliver this vision.
The newly adopted planning process
mandates that the users of any new or
renovated spaces shall be the designers
of those spaces. The process assumes
that people have within themselves the
power, wisdom, and insight to create
beautiful spaces for themselves. The
plan further requires that a shared set of
powerful design patters shall provide
the framework for the expression of
individual design ideas.
This exciting new process is modeled
on a plan described in a book by
Christopher Alexander called The
Oregon Experiment. The unique character
of the plan is rooted in six
revolutionary key principles.
1. The Principle of Organic Order
A cohesive whole campus develops
gradually, the product of countless
small individual projects. This principle
suggests that the school grows like a
giant oak. When we plant the tiny seed,
we have a general idea of the character
of what the mature oak will look like.
Along the way, an infinite variety of
factors influence the shape and
dimensions so that each oak is unique.
The character, however, holds true to
the vision inherent in the seed.
2. The Principle of Participation
This principle states the
fundamental concept that the users of
spaces shall be the designers of those
spaces. Nobody else knows better the
subtle, intricate issues so intuitively
obvious to the user.
3. The Principle of Piecemeal Growth
Annual construction budgets shall
be weighted in favor of smaller projects.
The idea here is that the community
consciously and practically establishes a
priority system that does not allow the
old part of the campus to deteriorate
while each years construction budget is
spent on new buildings.
4. The Principle of Patterns
The community shall adopt a
mutually agreed upon set of planning
guidelines called patterns. The patterns
are very precise, very powerful
descriptions of recurring spatial
configurations. In a process which
favors design by user, the possibility
exists that the resultant campus would
be a chaotic mix of individual
expression within the context of a
shared vision.
Most of the work of creating an
individual pattern language for the
school is already complete. Alexanders
second book, A Pattern Language, is used
as a model. The communitys task is to
fill in the patterns appropriate to its
particular site and setting.
5. The Principle of Diagnosis
Typical master plans show a colorful
map of what a campus will look like
five, ten, or twenty years in the future.
This plan works very differently. The
Design and Planning Committee
prepares, on an annual basis, a set of
conceptual drawings that outline which
spaces are alive and healthy and
working according to the pattern
language.
On the same drawings, the Committee
indicates where repair is needed in
order to bring other spaces to life. The
diagnostic maps are used in conjunction
with each new design proposal. Every
proposal must include a description of
how it will work toward bringing the
proposed spaces to life as described by
the pattern language. The idea is that
with each increment of new
construction, no matter how small, the
community is always working its way
toward a comprehensive shared vision
of wholeness.
6. The Principle of Coordination
The plan establishes a process by
which the Design and Planning
Committee shall guide the steady flow
of ongoing projects, initiated by the
users, through the funding process
toward completion.
In the timeless, picturesque European
village, built over the course of
generations, a shared set of basic
fundamental design images and
construction practices created the
framework that assured that each new
project built upon the past in a way that
worked toward completing the whole.
During the course of the last 100 years,
our shared set of design values and
images have evaporated. This is the
reason we must create a new pattern
language. And, to the extent that our
proposed pattern language is alive,
whole, beautiful, and nurturing, so shall
be our built environment.
All of this work falls back on some
fundamental concepts about the nature
of men, women, and children. First is
the assumption that the creative process
is alive and well and waiting to be
revealed in every individual and that
the same spirit that created the worlds
most memorable spaces resides within
us, capable of being called forth to
design our spaces today.
The second awareness is that human
beings are affected by their
environment, that places that are alive,
whole, and free will be settings in which
we can feel alive, whole, and free.
The same glorious sense of life that
draws us to walk along the crashing
seashore or sit before a roaring fire is the
force that draws us to the medieval
European village or the scenic Greek
island town. We feel alive, whole, and
connected to the world around us in
these places. The goal of the New Gate
plan is to recreate this same quality to
create a setting where our children can
feel alive, whole, and free.
Christopher Gallagher, Vice

President of Rampart Homes in
Sarasota, Florida, is an architect and
builder and the parent of two children
at the New Gate School.
The last ten years of his practice have
incorporated and built upon the
research and writing in Christopher
Alexanders books, A Pattern Language,
The Timeless Way of Building, The Oregon
Experiment, A New Theory of Urban
Design, The Production of Homes, and Das
Linz Cafe.
Simple Steps to Transform or Create
A Beautiful Campus
By Chris Gallagher
1. Keep your campus litter-free
2. Sweep your drives and walks
3. Add fresh paint. Caulk open joints
first
4. Clean windows and screens
5. Weed landscape beds and trim plants
6. Simplify, Unify and Beauty your
signage. And please make it polite
7. Add outdoor sculpture
8. Add fountains
9. Add a pond
10. Simplify and unify your exterior
building colors
11. Provide benches to sit on in
comfortable places. Use wood
benches
12. Stain untreated wood.
13. Add operable window shutters
14. Upgrade to small paned windows
15. Plant trees
16. Grow climbing plants
17. Grow potted plants in clay pots and
wooden boxes
18. Create enclosed gardens and grow
vegetables, flowers & herbs
19. Divide the campus into "outdoor
rooms"
20. Add gateways into each "outdoor
room"
21. Build simple paths where children
walk
22. Invite birds and butterflies
23. Add indoor plants and fill vases
with cut flowers
24. Take everything off the walls except
meaningful, beautiful, framed
pictures and paintings.
Chris Gallagher, Associate AIA is
available for minor school design
consulting projects and complete new
campus master planning.
You may reach him at
The Center for Beautiful Places
1715 Stickney Point Road, Sarasota,
Florida 34231 941-926-7518
mailto:cggdesign@aol.com
If you would like a copy of his
newsletter, send a note to the address
above.
The Perfect Look For Your
Montessori Classroom Building
By Chris Gallagher
At some time in your involvement
with your Montessori school you may
be faced with the challenge of creating a
new classroom. You may even be
handed the opportunity to participate in
the making or the re-making of an entire
campus. There will be much to do and
hundreds of decisions to make. And,
somewhere during that process,
someone is going to ask the most
dreaded of all questions, Well, what do
we want our school to look like?
If the question is directed toward
you, you will most probably get a mixed
up, queasy feeling in your mid-section
as a parade of ever more perplexing
questions come marching to the front.
You think, Oh no, how am I supposed
to know what it should look like? What
will your parents expect the school to
look like? And, what will be best for the
children? You wonder what Maria had
to say about the look of a school?
Lets spend some time together
talking about what your Montessori
school should look like. I will assume
that, given that your buildings and
grounds make up a very significant part
of your prepared environment, and that
you have at this point witnessed the
absorptive nature of the young human
beings in your care, you will want your
buildings and grounds to be, well-
beautiful. What you want, is to create a
beautiful place.
Now, before going any further I
must share what I mean by a beautiful
place. We have no word in the English
language that means the same thing as
the phrase, beautiful place. What I mean
by a beautiful place is a place that
possesses qualities that serve to
enduringly comfort, delight, and
ennoble us. Comfort, delight, and
ennoble usenduringly; thats what a
beautiful place does.
The way that I would like to talk to
you about what a Montessori school
should look like is to share with you
what I have observed to be the simple
principles for creating beautiful places.
SEEK NOT PERFECTION
Sorry, I know I threw you off course
a little with the title, but there is no
single perfect design, style, or look for
your new school. It is no more
reasonable to expect that you can design
a perfect building then to expect that
you can lead a perfect life. My
suggestion is to search not for the
perfect design, but for the most
common, simple, vernacular solution.
Expect that your beautiful place may
even be a little awkward at times,
maybe even a little clumsy or funny.
Think of the most beautiful places you
have ever been. Building after building
of simple repetitive elements mixed up
in all kinds of straight, crooked, and
irregular ways. So, aim for wonderful
but dont worry about perfection.
Remember the painter, Edgar Degas,
who in his search for beauty identified
that hint of ugliness without which
nothing works.
SEEK NOT ORIGINALITY
Throw off the weighty curse of
originality as quickly as you can. Forget
about designing a building that looks
like a cube, a cone, a hexagon, or an
inverted pink tower. Maria Montessori
developed a method of teaching
children based on what works. She was
not in search of some new method for
the sake of a new method. The best
question is not, What can I do that will
be different, but, What can I do that
will work? My advice: observe what
works and use it as a model, copy it, or
use the parts that work and toss the rest.
The most original buildings of the
twentieth century are, in many cases,
the most difficult and costly to heat and
cool, the most difficult and costly to
repair, and the most difficult and costly
to add on to and the roof probably
leaks.
So dont worry about being original.
The fact that you have a unique site and
a unique building program will
guarantee your building is original
enough. Besides, children dont care
about being original; they simply are.
Good advice for your building.
SEEK NOT COMPLETION
Leave your building incomplete.
What I mean by this is, do not expect
your physical building, all by itself, to
complete the picture. The building is a
backdrop, a setting for the activities that
will happen there. Building and activity
come together in the creation of a place.
The building is not an object like a
painting or a sculpture to sit and stare
at. It is a place where childrens lives
unfold.
Inside, the vase of flowers, the
simple cloth curtains, the colorful
materials, and the children themselves
serve to complete and animate the place.
Outside, it is the sky and the trees, the
flower boxes, the gardens and fences,
the trellises and climbing plants, and the
joyful children who will complete the
image.
So, keep it simple, do not complete
the picture. The incompleteness helps
to call forth the vase of flowers.
SEEK COMFORT
Now lets talk about the qualities we
should be looking for in our buildings
and grounds. What are the things we
can do in the design of a place that will
serve to most comfort us and out
children mind, body, and spirit. Begin
with the simple things, like a
comfortable place to sit under the shade
of a tree and eat your lunch, or a
comfortable chair or bench that is just
the right height for your little legs; and
oh, dont forget the soft comfortable
cushion. How about a comfortable,
easy-to-turn doorknob.
When trying to decide between two
alternative solutions, ask yourself,
Which will be more comfortable for the
children, for their hands, for their skin,
for their sense of security and peace of
mind.
SEEK DELIGHT
What are the characteristics of a
place, which most delight the human
animal especially the younger
members of the species? We know that
children find delight in color, rhythm,
and patterns of order. They love caves,
hiding places, and tunnels. They like
mud, sand and water so simply include
these qualities and features.
SEEK ENNOBLEMENT
Do not lose sight of who you are
creating your school for. Think of each
child as a divine prince or princess, a
unique son or
daughter of the spirit
of the universe.
Make your places
worthy of their
presence. This does
not mean stiff and
rigid and formal.
Imagine that each of
your noble guests is
visiting you for a
vacation. It is your
responsibility to
provide the setting
that acknowledges their supreme
importance as individuals, but in a
light-hearted, joyful way.
SEEK LOVE
The ultimate test is this does it feel
like love. Before you begin to evaluate
any particular aspect of your project,
conjure the memory of love in your
heart. Remember your most vivid
experience of what it felt like to love or
be loved. Remember the feeling. Feel it.
Really feel it. Now, as you evaluate
your design alternatives see which one
feels more like this feeling. The single
final question is always, What would
love do here?
Your understanding of these
principles allows you to keep focused
on what is ultimately important. Do not
allow yourself to be intimidated by
strange design concepts or quick talking
architects that dont make sense to you.
Remember does it work?
Now, having said all that, lets take a
look at the process that allowed us to
arrive at an agreed upon look for the
New Gate School in Sarasota. Here are
our givens. A one hundred acre campus
on a
partially
wooded
site in the
sub-
tropical
location of
South West
Florida.
The
property is
now used
for cattle
grazing
and pine
tree
farming. There are wetlands, open
fields, a stream, tall pine trees and a
dense canopy of very old oak trees. If
you stand on any one of the four
property lines of this rectangular piece
of land you will not see another
building. One property line is adjacent
to state road 72, a two-lane road that
stretches across the peninsular of
Florida from west cost to east cost. Our
parcel is 6 miles from interstate 75, a
route that defines the urban border of
Sarasota County.
Our long-range plans are for 600
children in a beautiful, rural setting with
room for farming, animals, and an
equestrian program.
So, as we began, what we were in
search of was a look, a style, or a design
image that would embody the seven
principles in a simple, efficient, and cost
effect way.
Before I share with you our results;
there is one more factor that you should
consider. You need a vision for your
place a powerful, evocative,
enchanting image that will 1. Muster
the resources of you and your
community of supporters. 2.Capture
the attention of your customers, the
families who will enroll at your school.
And most importantly, 3. Provide a
memorable, positive, life-enhancing,
place that will form the backdrop for
your childrens lives.
In our search for an image we talked
of the great places of learning. We
studied the Greek Academy and Oxford
and Cambridge in England. We studied
the early seats of education in America,
places like Harvard, William & Mary,
and Jeffersons University of Virginia.
As wonderful as the buildings on these
campuses are we learned how
important the spaces between the
buildings can be. We leafed through
hundred of pages of photographs of
beautiful buildings and places from
around the world.
What ultimately captured our
imaginations were the simple, one story,
white stucco, tile-roofed horse ranches
of South America. Easily constructed
buildings, built of readily available local
labor and materials, cool shady
courtyards and colorful gardens, lush
sub-tropical plants and section after
section of three- plank- high, painted
horse rail fences along tree- lined drives.
Having described the big picture
and answered the question of what our
campus would look like, much remains
to be done. Every detail down to the
walkways, window frames, and
doorknobs must be identified and tested
against our seven principles.
Perhaps once in your lifetime you
will have an opportunity to create a
place such as this. Do make it a
beautiful place. Create a place that will,
for now and ever after, comfort, delight
and ennoble the young men and women
placed in your care so that they will
forever know that they are important,
they are loved, and that, they too, are
beautiful.
Editors Note: Chris Gallagher is the
director of The Center for Beautiful
Places, a design, consulting and research
company located in Sarasota, Florida.
His two children have been enrolled at
the New Gate School for six years. He
served as board president for three
years. Mr. Gallagher oversees the
ongoing beautification of the New Gate
Schools Ashton Road Campus and is
the Master Planner for New Gates new
100-acre campus.
T H E C E N T E R F O R B E A U T I F U L P L A C E S
1715 Stickney Point Road Suite C7, Sarasota, Florida 34231 941-926-7518
Principles for Creating Beautiful Places
1. Seek Not Perfection
2. Seek Not Completion
3. Seek Not Originality
4. Seek Comfort
5. Seek Delight
6. Seek Ennoblement
7. Let the Feeling of Love Be Your Test
Patterns for Creating Beautiful Places
1. SITE PATTERNS
101 Outdoor Room
102 Gate, Path, and Goal
103 Sunny Places/Shady Places
104 Protected View of Life
105 Connected Buildings
2. PLANT PATTERNS
101 Tree Canopy
102 Climbing Plants
103 Potted Plants
104 Enclosed Garden
105 Wall of Plants
3. FOUNDATION PATTERNS
101 Building Base
102 Building Base Extension
103 Building Wall Extension
104 Cascading Stairs
105 Wall, Path, and Tree Line
4. FLOOR PLAN PATTERNS
101 FrontEntry
102 Main Building With Wings
103 Interior Privacy
104 Comer Rooms
105 Connection to Outdoors
5. FACADE PATTERNS
101 Top, Middle, & Bottom
102 Rhythmic Facade
103 Bays & Arches
104 Gables & Parapets
105 Towers & Buttresses
6. ROOF PATTERNS
101 Sloped Roof on Varying Wall Heights
102 Textured Roofing
103 Chimney, Finials, and Spires
104 Cupolas, Dormers, and Domes
105 Rafter Tails and Brackets
7. COLUMN PATTERNS
101 Columns and Beams
102 Column, Capital & Base
103 Colonnade
104 Pilasters
105 Penmeter Columns
8. DOOR PATTERNS
101 Door Hood
102 Doorway Surround
103 FrontDoor
104 French Doors
105 Glass Doors and Solid Wood Doors
9. WINDOW PATTERNS
101 Small Paned Window
102 Swinging Window
103 Low Window Sill
104 Operable Window Shutters
105 Prepared Window View
10. ROOM PATTERNS
101 Defined Rectangular Room
102 Visible Doorway
103 Room Connections
104 Alcove
105 Seat By A Window
11. WALL PATTERNS
101 ThickWall
102 Window Wall
103 HalfWall
104 Wall Niche
105 Textured Wall
12. CEILING PATTERNS
101 Varied Ceiling Heights
102 Beamed Ceiling
103 Discontinuous Ceiling
104 Wall to Ceiling Connection
105 Vaulted Ceiling
13. FLOORING PATTERNS
101 Varying Floor Heights
102 Wood Floors
103 Stone Floors & Tile Floors
104 Sod & Gravel
105 Rugs & Carpets
14. LIGHTING PATTERNS
101 Balanced Daylight
102 Sunlight Through Trees
103 Candle Light
104 Varying Light Levels
105 Task Lighting
15. VENTILATION PATTERNS
101 Operable Windows
102 Ceiling Fan
103 Exhaust Flue & Make up Air
104 Non-toxic Materials
105 Exhaust Fan
16. AROMA PATTERNS
101 Fresh Air
102 Garden Scents
103 Incense and Scented Candles
104 Potpourri
105 Scented Food
17. SOUND PATTERNS
101 Indoor Quiet
102 Water Sounds
103 Wind Sounds
104 Animal Sounds
105 Soothing Music
18. THERMAL PATTERNS
101 Fireplace
102 Place In the Sun
103 Soft Materials on Hard
104 Place By the Water
105 Place in the Shade
19. WATER PATTERNS
101 Bathing Place
102 ShoweringPlace
103 Swimming Pool
104 Fountain
105 Natural Water Feature
20. ORNAMENT PATTERNS
101 Connection Ornament
102 Gravity Ornament
103 Shadow Ornament
104 Symbolic Ornament
105 Repeating Shape Ornament
21. COLOR PATTERNS
101 All White
102 Monochrome
103 Raw Matenal Color
104 Color With White Trim
105 White With Colorful Accents
22. HARDWARE PATTERNS
101 Visually Appropriate Hardware
102 Tactilly Engaging Hardware
103 Hand Crafted Hardware
104 Durable Hardware
105 Delightful to Maintain Hardware
23. FURNITURE PATTERNS
101 Sitting Circle
102 Tables & Chairs
103 Built In Seats, Counters, & Shed
104 Variety of Sitting Places
105 Simple Wood, Metal, & Wicker
Furniture
24. FABRIC PATTERNS
101 Canvas Shades
102 Window & Door Cloths
103 Table & Chair Cloths
104 Bed Cloths
105 Bath Cloths
25. ACCESSORY PATTERNS
101 Indoor Plants & Flowers In Vases
102 Family Photographs
103 Paintings, Drawings, & Sculpture
104 Books
105 Mirrors
26. MAINTENANCE PATTERNS
101 Litter-Free Ground
102 Healthy Plants
103 Fresh Coat of Paint
104 Swept Walks & Drives
105 Clean Windows & Doors
Modular Buildings
ByTim Seldin
Need a new building at your school?
On a tight budget? Then you ought to
consider modulars!
Modular buildings? Aren't they
those really ugly trailers turned into
"temporary" classrooms by public
schools all over the country? Well, yes
and no!
Modulars are typically built on top
of a trailer frame. Traditionally they are
the same size as a "double-wide" trailer
unit. Each module is typically 14.5 feet
wide and 54 feet long. Each piece has
outer walls along three sides, with one
long side open. Two modules fit
together to produce a modular building
29 feet wide and 54 feet long.
Want a bigger modular building?
Simple! Just ask the factory to add in
some more units with the 2 end walls in
place, but both long ends open. These
units can be placed in between the two
end modules to create addition interior
spaces, each 29 feet wide by 54 feet long.
There is no limit to how many modules
can be placed together.
Unfortunately, the result is usually a
fairly boring rectangular building with a
flat roof. Modular buildings can be
made more interesting by adding on a
mansard roof, bay widows, more
windows, or a more interesting exterior
finish. With top grade doors and
windows, a nice mansard, and sheet
cedar shingle siding, some mature
bushes, a well planned deck, and a
modular building doesn't look half bad.
At the Barrie School in Silver Spring,
Maryland, we used modulars to give us
another 15,000 square feet of long-term
"temporary" structures for our upper
school library, computer center, foreign
language, art, and music classes, along
with some additional office space.
But modular buildings don't have to
be limited to rectangular boxes. In 1993
the Countryside Montessori School
(today known as the New Gate School)
The New Gate School, Sarasota, Florida
in Sarasota, Florida, built an octagonal
central structure to house their library
and serve as a meeting area. To four of
the eight walls they fit standard
modular classroom units. Three walls
are used for glass entryways, which,
with a central skylight, give the
library/common's room a light and airy
look. One wall is used for bathrooms
and janitor's closet. Large exterior
decking provides convenient outside
workspace for the children in this warm
weather climate. While this building is
still inherently limited by its modular
construction, it is much more attractive
than many school buildings.
Altogether, this 6,000 square feet
classroom building cost Countryside
just under $200,000, or approximately
$33 a finished square foot.
Why would you want to consider
modular construction?
Cost is the most obvious factor. At
$33 a square foot, Countryside spared
no expense. Their custom designed
commons area and decking are
something that most schools have not
considered in modular construction.
Also, Countryside, concerned about the
health impact of their interior
environment, took great pains to
customize their heating/cooling system,
carpeting, paints, and other interior
finishes. A typical rectangular modular
building will probably cost 25-30% of
the finished cost of more than $100 a
square foot common today in traditional
school construction.
Another distinct advantage is
construction time. Modular buildings
are normally built inside a factory using
efficient assembly-line principles,
construction is not dependent on good
weather. Depending on how back-
ordered a modular supplier is at a given
time, it is quite common for a project to
be finished and ready for delivery on-
site within six-weeks from the date of
order.
Another plus is the minimal
disruption to your building site from
start to finish of the new construction.
Modulars are set on steel reinforced
concrete footings, which are not very
difficult to prepare. Utility hookups are
brought to the site. Then, when the
modules are completed, they are driven
to your campus on their trailer bases
and lifted up onto the footings by a
portable crane. The entire process rarely
takes more than a few days. Once
assembled, the connecting walls and
roofs are sealed, utilities connected, and
the interiors finished off. Normally most
of the interior work was done at the
factory, with bathrooms, sinks, interior
walls, carpeting, electrical outlets, and
such more or less complete on delivery
to your site. This can be a tremendous
advantage if you are building next to or
close to existing classrooms. Where
traditional construction can take
months, it is conceivably possible to
schedule the final assembly of your
modular structure over a weekend or
holiday. Future additions are equally
simple and convenient. If your master
plan design provides for eventual
expansion to four classrooms, but you
only need two at the beginning, you will
be able to add the last two modules on
at any time with minimal disruption.
One final advantage to keep in mind
is that while modular buildings are not
all that easy nor inexpensive to move,
they can be taken apart, moved, and set
up in a new location. There is even a
market for used modular buildings. So
build them, use them until you're ready
for more expensive permanent
construction, then sell them to a
worthwhile school that is just getting
going.
Are there any disadvantages to
modular construction?
Modular buildings are most often
made of wood framing built up on a
steel trailer bed. While the final result
depends on the quality of the modular
supplier's product, these are not
intended to be permanent buildings. [If
you have a choice, definitely order
everything extra heavy duty, especially
the roofs and sub-floors.] Eventually
you can expect leaks along the roof
joints and other signs of wear and tear
from active day-to-day use. On the other
hand, let's define temporary. Many
temporary modular buildings have been
in use for twenty, thirty years or more.
No, they are not built to last down
through the ages, but if your school s
still young and working with a limited
budget, modulars may give you
adequate to excellent service for your
first twenty years or so. Isn't that long
enough to get you started?
If not, then you might want to
consider one of the high end modular
units. Built entirely of steel, concrete
and brick, these units are definitely not
your typical trailers! They are
rectangular boxes built under roof in a
factory at prices that are still below the
cost of traditional construction. But
these modulars are built to last! They
have all the advantages of modulars in
terms of speed of completion and
convenience, but the cost savings may
not justify the boxy look inherent in all
present day modular construction.
Keep in mind that you are
inherently limited by the size of your
basic module. Your building will be a
maximum of 54 wide along one end and
the ceilings will be the standard height.
If you want to add on a gym with 20
foot high ceilings you'll need to look
elsewhere.
Any other disadvantages? Just one.
How do you feel about your new
buildings arriving in a long line of
tractor trailers? I wonder if there's such
a thing as modular building rustlers?
Can you just imagine thieves driving
away with your buildings in the night?
Facilities Planning Worksheets
Abundance
Balance and Beauty
Clarity Creativity Confidence
Ease Freedom Givingness Growth
Harmony Joy Life Love Order
Peace Power Unity Vitality Wholeness Wisdom
Circle the qualities that you would like to manifest in your schools facilities.
Summarizing, it is our goal to create a plan for the development of our schools facilities
that will give our school community a sense of:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Describe the ideal campus to support your educational vision
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Describe the limitations created by your present facilities
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Describe the ideal Montessori classroom for each level of your school
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Describe your ideal outdoor environment
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
What spaces do you have for indoor play?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Where do you hold adult meetings? How appropriate are they?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Defining your Space Needs
How many children would you like your new facility to accommodate? _____________
How many square feet do you believe you will need in your new building? __________
What is your budget? __________________________________________________________
How will you be paying for your new facility? _______________________________
Which of the follow types of spaces will your new facility need?
Different types of space
_______ self-contained classrooms
_______ shared special purpose spaces
_______ media centers
_______ computer labs
_______ science centers
_______ a school museum
_______ language labs
_______ music and dance studios
_______ art studios
_______ gym and other physical education facilities
_______ large group spaces
_______ theater
_______ multi-purpose room
_______ dining hall
_______ a commons area
_______ office space
_______ reception areas
_______ teacher work areas
_______ small group meetings
_______ tutoring rooms
_______ conference rooms
_______ board rooms
_______ bathrooms
_______ sinks
_______ storage
_______ classroom storage
_______ central shared educational resources
_______ janitorial supplies
_______ maintenance tools and supplies
_______ hazardous materials
_______ nurses infirmary or area where sick children can be kept comfortable in
isolation
_______ kitchen facilities
_______ living facilities for residential students and staff
_______ outdoor work spaces contiguous to the classrooms
_______ outdoor play areas
_______ greenhouses
_______ gardens
_______ entrances to the main street
_______ drive ways through the campus
_______ parking
_______ footpaths/walkways
_______ signage on campus
_______ Telephone intercom system (in classrooms?)
_______ Phone lines or cable modem access for the Internet?
_______ Will your building be wired for satellite TV? Cable TV? Cable Modem?
Computer Network?
How will the spaces need to relate to each other?
What functions need to be close to each other?
What functions need to be kept far apart?
Which spaces need easy access to doors where deliveries can be received?
Which functions will tend to create considerable noise?
Will anything on campus be potentially dangerous or toxic? How will it be secured?
Will any functions tend to create unpleasant aromas?
Existing buildings
_______ Can they be used for your purposes?
_______ Will your local government even allow you to use them as a school?
_______ At what cost?
Will you be required to put in:
_______ Fire escapes?
_______ Metal doors?
_______ Sprinkler systems?
_______ Fire walls?
How much will their limitations affect your programs future?
Are the rooms small, dark, and gloomy?
Are bathrooms located where theyll be needed?
Is there any hazardous material on-site? Cost of removal?
Defining a Vision of Your School's
Future
A Vision for the Future of New Gate
In the pages that follow you will find a first draft of a vision of the educational center
that we believe New Gate can become. We hope that it will both kindle your interest and
stir up a few thoughts about education in general. Now the ball is your court as
members of the New Gate community. This is simply a first draft, based partially on my
previous experience, and partially on the ideas that we are evolving together. I want to
invite your thoughts and suggestions. This school is rapidly becoming a dynamic
community, committed to world-class education of heart, mind, and body. Please feel
free to contact me personally by phone, in person, by e-mail, or in writing if I can answer
any questions and when you are ready to offer your first input. We will work on this
vision together over the months ahead, much as the school did with my blueprint last
year. Hopefully, before too long, we will have defined a vision far more refined than this
initial draft.
Introduction
Learning the right answers will get you through school. Learning how to learn will
get you through life! Our goal at New Gate is to lead our students to think, explore, and
reflect back on what they have learned. We want active, self-disciplined minds, rather
than students who memorize, feedback, and promptly forget.
The basis of our approach is based on the simple observation that children learn
most effectively through direct experience and the process of investigation and
discovery. No two students learn at the same pace, nor do they necessarily learn best
from the same methods. We believe that a fine school must be flexible and creative in
addressing each student as a unique individual.
Before students can take advantage of a challenging education, they have to discover
their innate abilities. They need to develop a strong sense of independence, self-
confidence, and self-discipline. They must be willing to make and learn from countless
mistakes.
Ideally, our sons and daughters will develop into people who are fascinated by the
universe, and feel compelled to understand something of lifes secrets. Hopefully, they
will come to see that we all belong to the earth and to the family of Man. Our dream is
that they will live lives filled with quiet dignity and compassion for all of mankind. We
hope that their lives will leave a positive mark on the world.
New Gate is designed to be a school where children can blossom! We seek to
cultivate renaissance men and women who follow in the intellectual tradition of Thomas
Jefferson. Our goal is to nurture and stimulate the spontaneous curiosity within us from
birth. New Gate has been designed to not only to give students a fine education, but to
prepare them for life.
Granted, this lies beyond the scope of traditional education, but then New Gate is a
rather unusual school.
The Proposed Expansion Of The New Gate School by the year 2000
Student Population: An enrollment of somewhere between 350 To 600 students
organized into four divisions
The Primary School
Toddler class Age 2 to 3 20 students
Primary Classes Ages 3 to 6 120-150 students ages two and a half
to six
The Lower School Grades 1 to 3: 90-120 students ages six to nine
The Middle School Grades 4 to 6: 60-90 students ages nine to twelve
The Upper School Grades 7 & 8: 30-45 students ages twelve and
thirteen
Grades 9 -10 20-45 students ages fourteen and
fifteen
Grades 11 12 20-45 students ages sixteen and
seventeen
Organizational elements
The New Gate School
The Ashton Road campus (Primary School ages 2-6)
The Main Campus
Lower School (Grades 1-3)\
Middle Scholl (Grades 4-6)
Upper School (Grades 7-12)
The New Gate Studio Program (After school and weekend programs for children)
Summer at New Gate (Summer programs for children)
The New Gate Parenting Center
Parenting Resources Educational Toys
Parent Forums And Educational Programs
Infants, Moms And Dads - New Parents Parenting Education Program
The New Gate Center for Montessori Teacher Education
Teacher Training Center
Conference Center
The Montessori Society of Sarasota
Public Forums Public Information Center
Curriculum Lab And Professional Library Book Store
Speakers Bureau Support For Educational Reform
A Tour of New Gate in the Year 2000
At New Gate, classes are organized
to encompass a two or three-year age
span, which allows younger students to
experience the daily stimulation of older
role models, who in turn blossom in the
responsibilities of leadership. Students
not only learn with each other, but
from each other. We find that most
often the best tutor is a fellow student
who is just a bit older.
Working in one class for two or
three years allows students to develop a
strong sense of community with their
classmates and teachers. The age range
also allows the especially gifted child
the stimulation of intellectual peers,
without requiring that she skip a grade
and feel emotionally out of place.
Teachers closely monitor their
students' progress, keeping the level of
challenge high. Because we know our
students so well, our teachers can often
use their own interests to enrich the
curriculum and provide alternate
avenues for accomplishment and
success.
At the Primary, Lower, and Middle
School levels, students are typically
found scattered around the classroom,
working alone or with one or two
others. They tend to become so involved
in their work that visitors are
immediately struck by the peaceful
atmosphere. It may take a moment to
spot the teachers within the
environment. They will be found
working with one or two children at a
time, advising, presenting a new lesson,
or quietly observing the class at work.
Our days are not divided into fixed
time periods for each subject. Teachers
call students together for lessons
individually or in small groups as they
are ready. In the afternoon, students
choose from a wonderful collection of
courses and programs in art, music,
dance, theater, second language study,
computer science, sports, fitness,
personal development, and career
interests.
A typical days school work is
divided into fundamentals that have
been assigned by the faculty and self-
initiated projects and research selected
by the student. Students work to
complete their assignments at their own
pace. Everything is completed with care
and enthusiasm. Homework comes in
the form of extensive independent
reading and research and weekly
intellectual challenges that students
work on at home. There is a
considerable expectation that students
and families will often work together,
pursuing areas of intellectual interest,
reading together, exploring ideas, taking
trips to learn more first hand,
interviewing experts, etc. As students
reach the elementary years, they should
expect to continue their reading and
independent studies over the summer.
Expectations for both creative writing
and the preparation of research reports
will be fairly challenging.
Our system will have built in
procedures to give students and parents
ongoing feedback. The overall effect
will be to help students to learn how to
pace themselves and take a great deal of
personal responsibility for their studies,
both of which are essential for later
success in college.
We encourage students to work
together collaboratively, and many
assignments can only be accomplished
through teamwork. Students constantly
share their interests and discoveries
with each other. The youngest
experience the daily stimulation of their
older friends, and are naturally spurred
on to be able to do what the big kids do.
At the Upper School (Grades 7 - 12),
students will follow a laboratory
approach which will balance seminars,
tutorials, field study, internships, and
independent work. All students will
participate in on-going seminars,
debates, lab work, and team projects.
As a school focused on teaching
students critical thinking skills, classes
will be set up to reflect a high level of
discussion and analysis. We will focus
our teaching around both the great
issues of our time and those that men
and women have been wrestling with
throughout history.
One of the best things about life as a
student at New Gate will always be the
ability to progress at your own pace.
Students can move on to take advanced
courses as soon as they are academically
prepared for them, not simply when
they reach a given grade level.
You will often hear the word
community used to describe New Gate.
Its used with good reason, for New Gate
is an authentic community of
peopleyoung and oldliving and
learning in peace and harmony. Over
the years relationships grow strong,
friendship run deep. Surprisingly, there
will be few if any cliques among New
Gate's students. Older students who
enter the school in the upper grades find
themselves warmly welcomed. New
Gate is an international community in
which students and teachers have
learned to collaborate on the process of
education rather than compete.
While New Gate is itself a
community apart from the outside
world in which children can first begin
to develop their unique talents, we are
also consciously connected to the local,
national, and global communities. Our
goal is to lead each of our students to
explore, understand, and grow into full
and active membership in the adult
world.
Going to school in Sarasota offers
marvelous possibilities. Naturally we
make extensive use of all the natural,
academic, and arts resources found
throughout the community. Field
studies will be an essential element in
our curriculum.
Our Facilities and Programs
Together, New Gate's two campuses
will constitute a unique environment for
learning in todays world. The students
and families of each campus will
frequently use the facilities of the other
for all sorts of programs and activities.
Our Ashton Road campus is home
to our youngest students from ages two
through five. The setting is a five acre
farm in the midst of suburbia. Our
buildings are warm and comfortable.
We have retained a sense of being part
of the natural environment, rather than
closing ourselves off from it. Our
facilities include a young peoples
library, a small fitness center, an art and
music studios, and a children's farm.
Our second campus (Grades 1-12)
sits on a large site with mature trees,
fields, and ponds. It is hopefully located
less than five miles from our Ashton
Road campus. Our facilities include
spacious and comfortable learning
environments, science labs, three
libraries, a fine arts centers, a computer
facilities, a large fitness center with
indoor pool, stables, athletic fields, and
tennis courts.
Surroundings have a great deal to
do with the creation of an atmosphere of
learning. Our classrooms are our
students homes away from homeand
we strive to make them as attractive and
comfortable as possible. They are
warm, colorful, carpeted rooms filled
with plants, animals, art, music and
books.
You will not find rows of desks in
New Gate's classrooms. Instead, you
discover seminar rooms, interest centers
filled with intriguing learning materials,
fascinating mathematical models, maps,
charts, fossils, historical artifacts,
computers, scientific specimens and
apparatus, and animals that the children
are raising.
Our Ashton Road Campus:
The entrance into the school is
through an impressive gateway. The
campus is surrounded by a solid wall,
ensuring the security of the children
within. The wall and gate are not heavy
and imposing, but the cocoon within
which our children work a play in the
safety of a prepared Mediterranean
garden atmosphere. The look of the
wall, gate and buildings is carefully
considered and striking. It might be the
soft flowing lines of Bermudan
architecture or Old Florida. The
intention is not to look pretentious and
larger than life, but small and absolutely
beautiful.
Our administrative offices include a
waiting area large enough to hold 20-30
people comfortably. It looks like a large
room in a nicely designed home
(perhaps you might imagine a room in
the Field Club) with large comfortable
chairs, children's art work matted and
framed, large photographs of the
children at work and play, and Kitty's
portrait on the wall as Founder. The
receptionists desk is tasteful and
dignified, not institutional. You are
greeted by our receptionist whose lilting
French or soft British accent begin to
convey the message that this is an
international center. He or she is
extremely competent and charming,
welcoming people and presenting an
atmosphere of calm and warmth.
The outer perimeter of the reception
area is a place for entertaining children
who are visiting the school or waiting
for parents to pick them up. This is
temporary transitional spot with books
and educational toys. The cool stone
floor is covered with oriental rugs.
Despite the big bold awnings providing
shade, the large French doors and
windows let in lots of natural light.
There are large green plants and flowers
every where, give the room a light and
airy feeling. There is a table filled with
fruit in bowls made by the students. A
special blend of New Gate coffee and
herbal teas are served in mugs
emblazoned with the school logo. Our
large visitors bathrooms have a baby
changing station. Everywhere we turn,
there is evidence that someone has
given a great deal of thought to this
school.
The staff in the adjoining
Admissions office does nothing but try
to help find the perfect fit between
parents, child, and school. Our goal is to
find child who will blossom at New
Gate and parents who profound hare
and support our mission and values.
The Admissions offices (at Ashton and
our second campus) have enough space
to meet with several families at once.
There is a synergy that develops when
three or four families gather together in
one room; a subtle competition
regarding who's going to be the lucky
one to get in.
Beautiful covered walk ways grace
our paths to the classrooms and other
buildings, student grown wild flowers
sing while the banners and flags of
every nation wave gently in the cool
autumn breeze.
A tour of a typical class room for
children age 3-6 years.
New Gate follows the traditional
Montessori model of 25 to 30 children
age three through five. Each class is led
by two fully certified Montessori
teachers. A third adult is a classroom
aid who speaks a foreign language.
During the day she speaks that
language only and presents a formal
conversational and cultural second
language program.. Some classes run all
day, from 7 am to 6 PM. In this class,
faculty members overlap, with one
teacher arriving at 7 Am and leaving in
the afternoon, another arriving at noon
and staying until six, and a third who
stays for the normal school day. This
offers children who need to come in
early and stay late the highest quality
experience. Our normal classes offer a
full day program from 9 am to 3 PM.
Many two year-old go home after lunch,
but three year old normally stay all day.
By age four, we ask all students to stay
all day, which is necessary to complete
their preparation for the Lower School
at age six. encouraged at age two,
although half-days are permissible. We
are selecting families looking for a full
day model. When Montessori, a
children's house, takes root in the child's
mind and heart, they don't usually
want to go home at half day because
their school is providing them
intellectual and artistic intrigue.
Our Montessori classroom has at
least 50 sq. ft per child; between 1500 to
2000 sq. feet of space, which is two to
three times larger than our present
facilities. We accomplished this when
the school moved the older children to a
second campus by combining
classrooms in the exiting buildings and
through some additional construction.
This expansive space has had a dramatic
effect on the tone of the classes and the
impact of the physical environment is
striking. Classrooms have floor to
ceiling windows, bay windows, window
seats, numerous plants and trees with
French doors opening to the outside.
Our gardens include flower beds,
vegetable gardens and fruit trees which
are cared for by the children under the
guidance of our staff horticultural
educator. Botany and observation of the
natural world are strong elements in our
classroom curriculum.
Our classrooms are all lavishly
equipped with the complete Montessori
materials and educational resources and
equipment, particularly computers with
CD-roms and video disk and tape
players. Classroom furniture is
beautifully built natural wood, and the
entire room communicates care,
attention, order, quality. Framed art
prints hang on the walls. Indoor plants
are everywhere, giving the room a true
Florida room atmosphere. The
classroom storage area is the size of a
large walk-in closet. In addition, the
campus has one master storage center
from which teachers can borrow our
cultural artifacts like the Chinese
dragon, menorahs, draedels, African
masks, etc. Classrooms have private,
child-size bathrooms and a full child-
sized kitchen with dish washer and
small clothes washer and dryer.
Cooking is taught in conjunction with
true nutritional education. Kids are
preparing snack and lunch in the
classroom and have bins of Cheerios,
small pitchers of milk, toasters, fruit,
and a little sink to wash the tomatoes
they've grown. We have a library and
puppet theater in each classroom.
Adjacent to the rectangular shaped
main classroom are four smaller work
areas, with French doors connecting
them to the main environment so the
children are easily visible to the adults.
In one alcove there is a small
classroom art studio where children can
draw, paint, and work with clay or
other media whenever they choose to do
so. Our curriculum includes art history
and art appreciation as well as
sculpting, weaving, basketry, painting,
and other artistic mediums which are
correlated with classroom studies. For
example, when studying Japan, children
may choose to make cherry blossoms,
Japanese dolls, or handicrafts. (The
Waldorf school art curriculum offers the
quality and an adaptable model in this
area.) Another alcove is our classroom
carpentry area. Fully equipped with
child size tools, the children build and
bang without disturbing the class; they
are visible, but their work sounds are
muffled. The classroom rest area is
another, larger, alcove where children
can go to rest, meditate or just be quiet.
When children are napping, an adult
can darken this alcove and stays nearby.
Our classroom and community
animals are kept in a final alcove, closed
off from the main room. Breeds of
animals to which children with allergies
are unlikely to be sensitive are selected,
such as the Rex cats and bunnies, along
with fish, tadpoles, iguanas and other
appropriate animals. Instruction in
proper animal care and feeding is
incorporated in the curriculum. Each
animal is child-friendly and selected for
their stability in order to minimize any
risk.
Our after-school programming is a
continuation of the Montessori day; not
day care, an enriched Montessori day
school.
Fitness Center: Each campus has an
indoor fitness center. The one on Ashton
road is 80 by 40 ft. with a 15-20 ft ceiling
and a floor covered with rubber-like
material. A running track is inset along
the perimeter using a contrasting color.
The windows are plexi-glass, and the
exercise equipment is tailored to small
bodies. There is weight and exercise
equipment including: small exer-cycles,
pulleys with sandbags, weighted
buckets to carry, etc. Drown proofing is
taught in a small shallow enclosed
teaching pool graduating from 2 to 3
feet deep. Drown proofing classes are
held, for a fee, for small children from
the greater Sarasota community on the
weekends and in the summer months.
The Young Peoples Arts Center:
Our school is proud of its commitment
to music education. We specifically hire
teachers, aids and assistants who play
one or more of the common sing along
instruments such as piano, guitar,
dulcimer or auto harp. We have made a
concentrated effort to make music a
large part of our children's lives. As
with art education, music is interrelated
to the classroom curriculum; we teach,
for example, traditional Japanese songs
when studying Japan, and the children
learn Thai dances when studying
Thailand. We have a trained chorus and
every child sings every day from our
school songbook which includes songs
from our summer camp and traditional
songs about peace, love, family,
community and world harmony. Our
curriculum includes music appreciation,
international cultural music, the lives of
the great composers, the parts of the
orchestra, and how music is made. Our
instrumental program and music theory
program is based on the work of Karl
Orff utilizing specialized instruments
made for little children. Children's
theater and drama are available as well
as classes for parents on teaching
children how to sing.
This thoroughly prepared
environment has been designed for the
safety, comfort and education of our
youngest children, enriching their
intellect, as well as their physical,
spiritual, social, and emotional well
being.
Our Second Campus:
Located on 50 to 100 acres, this
campus has become the heart of the
evolving New Gate School. On this
beautifully wooded campus, buildings
are spread apart with up to 1000 feet
between the various schools. We have a
lovely dining hall on campus which is
used as the main dining room as well as
for parties, receptions and fundraising
events. On Friday nights, the Upper
School students and a group of talented
parents run a Coffee House which
features intimate musical performance,
wonderful coffees, teas, fruit drinks and
deserts. It provides a place to be for
many parents and older students.
The offices, classrooms, and grounds
reflect the same care that we described
on the Ashton Road campus. Buildings
are lovely, but not pretentious. As you
walk through the grounds, the
impression that you get is that of a
beautiful conference center. The
architecture might be the strong, bold
lines and colors of traditional Bermudan
great houses, or the look of old Florida.
Each building will look like it really
belongs. There will be high ceilings,
French doors, bay windows, and lovely
gardens and verandahs. Quality art will
be found throughout the school, hung at
adult and children's height,
reproductions and the very best
children's art work are properly framed
and mounted; there are pedestals with
sculptures, and beautiful bowls in the
classrooms and public spaces. Living
plants create a more lovely and healthier
environment, so there are indoor plants,
flowers and greenery everywhere.
The Classroom Buildings: The
three divisions of the school on this
campus are separated from each other
to allow the children the space to decide
whether or not they want to be around
the younger and older students. The
various ages groups definitely interact,
but in appropriate and positive ways as
big brothers, tutors, and classroom
assistants. The classrooms within each
division are organized as semi-
independent learning centers. complex
is an independent s have cathedral
ceilings, expansive windows, and
French doors. Each has at least 1500 to
2500 square feet. The older students
naturally need even more room. Each of
the main classrooms has several smaller
work spaces off in alcoves spaced
around the sides. Here you will find a
kitchen, small art studio and craft
workshop, a seminar room, private
tutorial room, a teachers office and very
well equipped science lab with
chemistry tables, science equipment,
animal cages, telescopes, a wave table
and attached green house. Each student
owns an inexpensive notebook
computer, which she can plug into the
network built in to the building.
Wherever she is on campus, she can
send and receive e-mail, access the
central library computer, or access a
printer. Modems placed in the central
libraries allow students to access the
inter-net.
Each division has its own central
library/research center with a full time
librarian. This quiet work place was
designed as a stimulator of curiosity to
pique kids interest. We have a collection
of well over 20,0000 bound volumes,
CD-Roms, and videotapes and disks.
We have truly made a substantial
investment in children's research books.
Our multi- media commitment is second
to none. We have a satellite connection
for television so children studying
Russia, for example, can watch
television originating in Moscow. Each
student has her own power book, with
internet and E mail connections; and
computers with laser printers are
available throughout the building. We
have a wonderful collection of models:
ships, airplanes, record players, old
machinery, and tools, all of which have
been donated. There are numerous
display cases filled with cultural
resources you might expect to find in a
museum.
The Community Parenting Center:
This is a special center for both our own
families and offering programs to the
broader community. The center has two
aspects. The first is a parents lounge
and activity rooms where parents come
to meet, plan, work and play. This is
where committees commonly meet.
Parenting classes are held in the
evenings and during the day. There is a
workshop where Montessori materials
are made and repaired. The materials-
making studio includes a big screen
computer, high quality laser printer,
color printer, digitizers, cutting boards,
laminators, duplicators, binders and
other materials parents need to help our
teachers prepare materials for the
classrooms.
The Lifetime Family Fitness Center
includes an indoor-outdoor track,
indoor/outdoor swimming pool, tennis
courts, nautilus and cardiovascular
exercise equipment. The Fitness Center
is available to families at night, on the
weekends and during the summer
months. Each student has an
individually tailored fitness plan which
includes nutrition education and stress
reduction activities. Staff monitoring,
and record keeping is based on the
Montessori laboratory theory according
to specific individual objectives. A
technical rock climbing wall, fencing,
karate, aerobic dance, track and field,
cross country training, and fitness
education is available for each child and
her family.
The Riding Center houses 15-20
horses completely cared for by the
children under the direction of the
stable manager. In addition to riding
instruction during afternoon, evening,
and weekend studios, they learn the
basics of horse rearing. All our horses
are gentle, seasoned school horses. We
have a 100 square indoor riding arena,
which makes it possible to ride after
dark and on rainy and all but the hottest
days. Riders from New Gate compete in
the local horse show circuit. This
program is optional but prepaid
through tuition, so every student may
ride if she is interested. During the
summer we offer riding as one of our
camp activities.
We have many other small farm
animals, such as sheep and ducks, and a
very large gardening and horticultural
farm. There is outdoor classroom crop
instruction and a school-community co-
op purchasing plan for all the
wonderful fruits, herbs and vegetables
our students grow.
As a small business, the children
breed and train miniature horses.
The Arts Center: The New Gate
Arts Center provides facilities where
our students and their parents can
explore the performing and visual arts
throughout the day, evenings, and on
weekends. The Center includes a
beautiful amphitheater or performance
hall, with a professional sound system
and stage lighting, a hardwood stage
floor for performance, and seats for
1000-2000 people. Here we hold
monthly community meetings,
graduation, our yearly end of school
closing ceremony, and many plays and
musical performances. The Center is a
Sarasota community resource for local
theater, symphonic performances, and
other theatrical events. Each of our
students is encouraged through the
Studio Program to comprehensively
explore the visual and performing arts.
During afternoon, evening, and
weekend Studios, both individual and
group programs are offered in areas
such as the full range of arts,
photography, video production, dance,
acting and theater, voice lessons, chorus,
instrumental instruction, and
performance groups. The school has
various singing groups and a small
orchestra which perform throughout the
community. The Art Center complex
includes many smaller rooms which are
used by private instructors to offer
individual music instruction for our
students, students from other schools
who are enrolled in the Studio Program,
and parents. Lessons hours extend into
the evenings and weekends. The Center
also has several different art studios set
up as Montessori open studios, where
artists in residence maintain studios in
several media where students can work
independently during the Studio
Program or take formal classes in areas
such as painting, sculpture, pottery,
fabric, wood working, etc. Our dance
studio offers training in ballet, tap, jazz,
modern or ballroom dancing. The Arts
Center also offers a full program of
adult education in the arts and a
comprehensive summer Arts program
for children.
The New Gate Center for Advanced
Montessori Studies and New Gate
Conference Center offers course work
accredited from a Florida. University in
a Masters degree program with a focus
in Montessori education. The faculty is
a combination of leaders from our
school administration and faculty, as
well as outside professionals. Our
international courses are intensive two
or three 10-week summer programs
meeting all day five days a week. This
center has it's own administration, a
professional library, and curriculum
laboratory which has Montessori
materials on display year round for
teachers, parents and public relations
activities. We provide seminars
workshops, and in service training for
public school teachers and principals,
leadership groups, graduate level early
childhood, elementary and secondary
Montessori teacher training courses, and
in-service refresher courses and
seminars for Montessori educators who
want to expand their expertise. There
are meeting rooms, a dining hall,
sleeping facilities used by on-campus
summer students in the training center
and by educators and families who are
attending conferences or retreats. This
Center for educational renewal includes
a research wing where our research
coordinator trains teachers on how to do
legitimate educational research in their
classrooms and is publishing research
validating Montessori methods and
other innovative strategies. It is here
that the teachers center for this campus
is located.

Design of Facilities

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Design of Facilities

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Designing Facilities for Montessori Schools

Page 387 2001 The Montessori Foundation

Christopher Gallagher, Vice

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