Stepping Up
Twins James and Thomas Shelton, 18, point to the sitting steps in the new Boehly Upper School building at Landon School in Bethesda as their go-to place in the morning or during free period during their senior year. The Silver Spring brothers, who graduated from the private school in May, say the centralized casual seating area was popular with their friends.
“It’s a good spot to just get work done and also have a random chat about the day,” Thomas says. “Sometimes you have a teacher walk by and we have a nice conversation that we otherwise wouldn’t have.”
The nine oversize steps are a gathering place in the middle of the building in an open space that connects the first two levels. On the main level, at the base of the steps, there is a large interactive touch screen and floor space with room for presentations. The area also has been used for musical performances, robotics classes and foosball championships. The second floor serves as a terrace and spectator space, of sorts, where students can look down at a meeting or show.
James enjoyed playing his violin in concerts held at the base of the sitting steps. “It’s a really close space, so you feel like you’re with everyone rather than in a concert hall where you’re 50 feet away from anyone,” he says.
Sitting steps are increasingly used as a device to promote engagement and provide a crossroads for incidental contact, says Bill Spack, a founding principal at CGS Architects in Washington, D.C., who led the Landon building design that was completed in September 2023. “When we started on the project, we talked a lot about the character and culture of Landon … about community and a strong bond with these young men,” he says. “Our goal was to find a way to manifest that in a space in the building that previously hadn’t existed.”
In working on academic projects, Spack says he’s always searching for the “heart” of the school, and that was part of the intent of the sitting steps: “We were looking to define a clearly identifiable interior space that says, ‘This is the core, the essence, the heart of the Landon School.’ ”
Stained Glass Serenity
When Rochambeau, the French International School, purchased its property on Bethesda’s Forest Road in 1975, the former Catholic school chapel became a library. “We felt there was a special ambience and spirit in here,” Hélène Fabre, Rochambeau’s executive director, says of the worship space-turned-library for about 560 students in grades 6-12. “There’s some serenity that totally suits how we use the place.”
In 2016, the private school renovated the library to make it brighter and more welcoming to students. The altar was removed to make room for comfortable chairs, couches and access to an extensive collection of French comic books. Up front, there’s a piano students can play during designated times—softly, so as not to disturb others.
Along one side of the library, sheer fabric is draped from above and pillows are scattered on the floor to create an intimate reading space. The refresh included lighter paint to match the original stained glass windows. “We really wanted to preserve [the windows] because they are part of the uniqueness of this place,” Fabre says.
Student art and writings are exhibited throughout the library. Drawings hang from above, sculptures are placed atop bookshelves, and poetry is set out for others to read. Senior Ravaka Ramarozatovo, 16, of Bethesda, remembers the excitement of seeing her art displayed in the library for the first time in middle school. “It was amazing because people you don’t know come up to you and ask, ‘Is that your artwork?’ ” she says. Ravaka says she likes the way the library showcases the school’s artistic diversity and gives students a chance to recognize each other’s talents.
Special events are often held in the library, where the furniture is movable and can be arranged to foster more personal interaction between guest speakers and students. The school has hosted a variety of French actors, athletes and authors. Last December, retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer came to campus and spoke to the students entirely in French, Fabre says. Another time, young-adult fiction writer Marc Levy met with students who were asked to write a continuation of one of his novels. Ravaka says sharing ideas in the library, where everyone was seated close together, felt less formal and made it more fun.
Media Center Master Class
At Montgomery County Public Schools’ Burnt Mills Elementary School, the media center was intentionally placed up front for students to see as they come into the building. With sweeping windows, it projects out from the second floor and over the main entrance.
The media center was part of an entire rebuild of the Silver Spring school that was completed in August 2023. From the beginning of the design process, the community was clear that it wanted the media center to be a prominent feature and central gathering place, says Braden Field, associate principal at MTFA Architecture in Arlington, Virginia.
Locating the media center on the second floor meant the ceilings could be higher (14 feet instead of 9), and large windows could let in an abundance of natural light. Instead of looking into the parking lot, students have a view into nearby trees.
The space is decorated in green, blue and orange with lots of wood paneling. There’s a triangle theme throughout—in the shapes of the windows and cozy reading nooks. “That idea was inspired by kids taking their own pillows or blankets to make a fort,” Field says of the triangular, tent-like motif.
Fourth grade teacher Orly Santos says she likes the open atmosphere and light in the new media center. “It’s more welcoming than before,” she says. Santos particularly enjoys taking her students there to be inspired as they work on writing assignments. “I like to get out of the classroom to find different spaces to be creative,” she says. The flexible seating is a plus, too, Santos says. Tables, couches and chairs are on rollers so kids can move them around to work in small groups.
The media center is nearly double the size of the previous one with room for more books and activities, says Lori Savoy, the school’s media specialist. In the middle is a “maker space” that includes a kitchen island and two large tables with six chairs each where students work with magnets, puzzles, Lego bricks and robotics projects.
Savoy says she loves how the media center is bright and comfortable, attracting students to come in before and after school. “It’s a very inviting space where everybody feels welcome,” she says.
A Plus Atrium
Whimsical lights and a large mobile are hanging in the center of the atrium as you walk into the Pen y Bryn Upper School Building on the Sandy Spring Friends School campus.
The multiuse space that opened in 2021 is primarily for students to socialize, do schoolwork and collaborate on small group projects. It’s also been the site of class meetings, college counseling activities, a gathering spot for faculty socials and parent-teacher conferences, and the occasional daytime coffeehouse where students perform music, recite poetry or dance.
When deciding on the details for the three-story, 42,200-square-foot building, the school held informal design charettes to solicit feedback. “Everyone was pretty energized about having a new upper school,” says Margaret Rosser, associate director of marketing and communications at the private school in Sandy Spring. The community liked the idea of a large common area and nimble spaces where people could collaborate. There also was support for it to be a sustainable building that aligned with the school’s values.
Large windows bring lots of natural light into the building, which has a forest-themed palette of green, gray and white. Reclaimed wood from old campus ash trees were incorporated into the accents in the atrium. There are also wooden benches made by the students. The building gets high marks for energy efficiency, wellness and indoor air quality with a system that completely exchanges the air 20 times an hour, according to Rebecca Kolowé, director of operations.
“We wanted something that reflected the culture of the school, which is a school that’s very student centered,” says David Hickson, former head of the upper school who is now a teacher there. “We believe students need to participate in the life and decision-making of the school. And we’re big believers in the outdoor environment and wanting that to be part of what we’re exposed to during our day.”
Gus Romanow, an 18-year-old from Silver Spring who graduated in June, says he often hung out in the sunlit atrium to get his homework done: “It’s a guaranteed space of quiet and calm because there is a collective awareness that people are working in here—that’s what’s really great about it.”
Weaving Wonders
The weaving room at Washington Waldorf School is behind a series of doors buried deep in the basement of the Bethesda private school. “We had to wheelbarrow out all the dirt in there to create this room,” says Barbara Bancroft, an art teacher at the school for 30 years and chair of the high school art department. “It’s a nice, private, sequestered place insulated by earth all around it.”
Created in 2015, the room is windowless and small—yet the eight wooden looms made of maple and vibrant colored cotton and wool yarn give it beauty, Bancroft says. There is carpeting on the floor and three floor lamps throughout for a homey feel. It’s a place where all sophomores at Waldorf (generally, about 16) spend a semester.
Weaving is part of a progression of required high school art classes that include drawing, clay modeling, watercolor painting and stone carving. Art is integrated into the curriculum from the early grades and becomes its own discipline in high school. “We use art as a tool for teaching,” says Alia Goodyear, director of communications and marketing at Washington Waldorf. “Multidisciplinary lessons include art to allow the students to interact with the material in different ways.”
Initially with weaving, Bancroft says, students can be anxious about coordinating their hands and feet to operate the loom. “The whole body is working in rhythm to push this thing forward while your mind is structuring the pattern and the color choice,” she says. The process requires focus. Still, the weaving room is a quiet spot tucked underneath other classrooms, giving it a secluded, relaxed vibe. Students often talk while they work on the soothing, rhythmic art, Bancroft says.
“When you’re in any kind of classroom or group situation, if it’s really working, there’s usually a point where you can feel like everyone is into it and the room sort of breathes a little bit,” Bancroft says.
The experience helps build confidence in students as they learn to take risks, she says, and then see their 5- to 7-foot woven pieces displayed in the front lobby of the school.
Junior Kate Gisvold says she didn’t know the weaving room existed until she was in ninth grade. “It’s a pretty cool space—and small. It’s cozy,” says the 16-year-old from Alexandria, Virginia. Learning to use the loom was a bit frustrating at first, Kate says, but she quickly got the hang of it. “I enjoyed the amount of creative freedom we got making our own patterns,” she says of her weaving, which featured purple, blue and yellow. “Everyone had a similar final product … but there was a little individuality.”
Caralee Adams has been a freelance writer for nearly 30 years covering education and other issues.
This story appears in the September/October 2024 issue of Bethesda Magazine.
