Thesis: BIG BOX STORE TO SCHOOL TRANSFORMATION
Creating a successful learning environment rapidly and economically by combining big box store construction methodologies and learning theories.
This project intends to explore the relationship between learning and interior space.
The thesis aimed to rethink the mass produced and generic big box store as a site using methodologies of the big box constructors to quickly and economically create a learning environment.
The thesis aimed to rethink the mass produced and generic big box store as a site using methodologies of the big box constructors to quickly and economically create a learning environment.
Empty warehouse stores are a great burden to the communities they have been built in. A wave of recent school closures in NYC and deteriorating school buildings have created a need for additional, break-out learning spaces either during school renovations or to handle the displacement of students due to school closures.
Borrowing the "pop-up store" idea from retail, the thesis explored how abandoned big box stores could be converted to schools in challenging economic times when school budgets are slashed. Exploring the ideas of a kit of parts, buying in bulk, sustainability through frugality in use and re-use of materials, existing building components, and a predefined construction methodology the thesis intends to prove that an economical recipe for creating a functional interior educational space can be created by "thinking within the box":
Learning and Space theory + Big Box Construction Methods == Great School
