by
Tracy Ostroff
The BELIEVE In Our Schools program, a Baltimore initiative, provides
free library designs to Baltimore City Public Schools. Thirteen local
architecture firms have teamed up with engineers and other consultants
to produce as many innovative designs for school libraries in Charm City.
The program began when, three years ago, Alexander Design Studio was
approached by Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse Inc. to volunteer with
a library design for Southeast Middle School, AIA Baltimore reports.
Construction would be funded by the state of Maryland through a program
called QZAB (Qualified Zone Academy Bonds). Now 13 local firms have donated
their innovative ideas to Baltimore City’s schoolchildren, saving
the city hundreds of thousands of dollars while simultaneously providing
children with the best and most creative designs for their libraries.
“Our firm has always done pro bono work,” says Charles Alexander,
AIA, founding principal, Alexander Design Studio. “About three
years ago we were approached by a local developer who put me in contact
with Baltimore City schools, which was interested in implementing a program
similar to the New York City’s L!brary Initiative, a partnership of the Robin Hood Foundation and the New York City Department
of Education.” To fund the work, the school applied for the QZAB
grants. “The big difference is that although the work in New York
was privately funded, the Baltimore schools had to search for public
money to carry out their plans. The notion was that Baltimore-area architects
could extend the resources by donating services to advance the renovations.”
Alexander encouraged city officials to deviate from their regular procurement
practices to try a pilot project to bring a creative design to life.
His firm offered to take on a middle-school library renovation. The project
proved to be a success. Another round of funding allowed the school and
the architects to expand their horizons. Alexander says he went around
with school officials to identify future sites and offer evaluations
and cost estimates. Because the reach of the need extended throughout
the county, they decided to concentrate their efforts on 10 projects
to be renovated with public funds. Two more were added later with private
funds.
12 architects for 12 schools
With the middle school design and pilot program under the firm’s
belt, Alexander Design Studio took on the role of coordinator of pro
bono services and intermediary between the schools and the volunteering
architecture firms. Alexander helped with the budgeting and program issues
and, importantly, found 12 architecture firms willing to donate their
services. With the firms (see reference-column list), they also found
an equally impressive number of eager engineering firms and other consultants
amenable to donating their services. The firms are working on a wide
variety of school types, from a 200-square-foot library for an elementary
school to a 6,000-square-foot high school. Some of the schools need only
aesthetic updates, whereas others involve HVAC and mechanical work.
Alexander figures his firm has donated more than 300 hours to the project.
He says three people—a project manager, senior associate, and intern—worked
on the design project and notes that the library projects had particular
allure. “It’s the one learning space through which everyone
in the school passes,” he says. “The children deserve excellent
design.”
Alexander says one of the frustrating aspects of the projects is working
out liability issues with the school district. “When we started
this process, the schools seemed amenable” to releasing the architects
from liability for the pro bono services they are providing, he says.
But the lawyers for the district are now balking at setting a precedent
for released liability. That is making some of the architects nervous—to
the extent that two of the projects may not be completed—but Alexander
is confident that there are enough people on board that they will be
able to reach a compromise.
Copyright 2005 The American Institute of Architects.
All rights reserved. Home Page ![](../../redesign/go_trans.gif)
![](../../2006common/spacer.gif)
|