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Art Classroom Design
A reference for Architects, School Administrators, and Art Teachers
Marvin Bartel © 2007 author bio link
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display
storage
lighting darkening
windows
sinks
ventilation
doors colors
kilns
flooring
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An ideal art room has some attributes that are the opposite of those needed in standard classroom. It is expensive and less than ethical to construct inappropriate and unsafe facilities for learning in visual art.
I write this as an art teacher, designer, artist, and architectural design consultant. This checklist for school art room design gives a minimum of features needed for art instruction. If you are an art teacher, a new facility is a "chance in a lifetime" to get the kind of teaching space you always dreamed of.
COST -- Poor design is bound to be the most expensive over the life of the building. Good design may be less expensive to construct, and is certainly more efficient in the long run. Many school administrators and architects are unfamiliar with the unique learning needs and safety considerations for learning visual art.
DISPLAY
SPACE
Design lots of easy to use display space with white or neutral tack board. Some types of cabinet doors can also be used for display space. Have some display walls in the room so a class can put up all their work and discuss it. Provide more space the hall for public view. An art class that does not display and discuss their own work is missing at least half of the potential art learning. Nearby hallway display surfaces provide a convenient way to share work with other students, teachers, and visitors to the school.
Plan for locked cases backing to the art room and facing the public hallway. Also, plan secure display cases for both flat and sculptural work near the main entrance and main office of the school. Few things motivate learning in the arts as much as appropriate recognition of hard work, achievement, and ability. Music students have concerts, and school athletes are featured in the local newspaper. Art students are also motivated by recognition of their hard work and successes.
STORAGE
Include lots of storage and drying racks. An art room is a production facility with many different groups of students using the same space. Without storage for supplies and for in-process projects the room soon becomes clogged with individual projects and nothing more can happen. Learning is seriously curtailed when lesson plans are limited because there is no place to put he work from session to session.
Perimeter cabinets are convenient, but some wall space is also needed for windows and for display. Consider shelving in an adjacent room designed as low cost warehouse quality space. Provide a glass wall and/or video cameras to make it easy for the teacher to visually supervise students while they retrieve and stash their work.
LIGHTING
Typical classrooms have lighting that is too general and uniform. Shading and shadows are not visible enough to learn drawing from observation and good sculptural modeling. A visual art learning studio needs direct lighting options and zoned lighting options that can be used when needed.
DARKENING
To learn about visual art and the history of art it would be best to see it in museums. Many classrooms cannot be made dark enough to realistically see the dark tones when they are projected. Provide blinds that are absolutely opaque. Consider simple inexpensive display-board sliding shutters instead of expensive curtains or high maintenance blinds. |
WINDOWS
Of all the rooms in a school, the art room needs to be located so it has windows with the best possible view for inspiration and for learning. Art rooms need windows for observation drawing and for teaching art concepts about space, depth, and perspective. If a view is impossible, insist on windows for light and ventilation. No other school subject or office space is as dependent on windows and good viewscapes as the art room.
SINKS
Cleanup time is not production time, but it has to be done. Good design saves time. Bad design results in lots of standing around and discipline problems. Ask for sinks that are in a peninsula with plenty of room for people around them and for traffic flow. Never locate sinks near a corner where they create congestion. Space sinks as far apart from each other as possible so lots of people can get at them. Get at least two sinks with two completely separate drain systems in every room. When one clogs, the other should work. If I am only allowed one sink, I try for a big double sink and two faucets and two drains.
GOOD VENTILATION
TO REMOVE DUST AND FUMES
I have seen new schools that take the bad air from the kiln room and blow it into the rest of the rooms in the school with the heating system. In our community they had to move the air intake in a school because it sucked in diesel fumes from the school buses making people in the building sick. Any spraying of art materials, fixatives, glazes, and so on require a appropriate exhaust booths with a dedicated exhaust fan that keeps all fumes away from the user. Clay mixing, soldering, photography chemicals, printmaking chemicals, and some paint thinners may also require dust and fume removal. If toxins cannot be totally removed at the source, fresh air should be supplied to the faces of the students while working. Consider, power, noise, and energy consumption when designing ventilation. In cold climates, air-to-air heat exchangers may be indicated to save energy.
KILN ROOM VENTILATION
Clay is an excellent, plentiful, and inexpensive art material. Many clays and glaze ingredients contain air pollutants when fired. Electric kilns need good ventilation to remove toxins from volatile clay impurities and glaze ingredients. Place kilns in separate rooms -- not in the classroom. Air from a kiln room needs to go directly outside - never into a common building exhaust or ventilation system. Gas kilns also need a dedicated guaranteed (not closable) fresh air supply for combustion air. Gas kiln flues are extremely hot and need air siphon sleeves that keep the adjacent roof structure cool during and after firing. Kilns with hoods require large amounts of replacement air. Masonry walled kiln rooms allow kilns to be closer to the wall.
DOORS
A door that goes directly outdoors allows opportunities for pit firing, raku firing, etc. These cannot be done indoors. Students love to do their drawing and painting outdoors when the weather permits. Some large equipment may require double doors.
COLORS AND SURFACES
Art needs to be created and viewed in an atmosphere that does not overly influence the work. Therefore extreme colors should be avoided. Stick to neutrals. In most cases some light grey or off-white is most appropriate. Art teachers establish the atmosphere of the environment with the displays of art exemplars, learning aides, and their unique collections of objects, mannequins, and taxidermy observed while making artwork. TOP
FLOORING
Use a sealed surface. Never use carpeting. Paint destroys carpet. Clay dust can never be totally removed from carpet. Ordinary vacuums distribute the most harmful dust into the air and we inhale it. Even with a special vacuum, when you vacuum carpet you always leave some at the surface where it still gets scuffed into the air. The best art rooms have floor drains to facilitate daily floor washing if needed.
Also see:
How to Clean & Work With Less Clay Dust http://www.goshen.edu/art/DeptPgs/clean.html
Hazards in Ceramics http://www.goshen.edu/art/DeptPgs/Hazards.html
All rights reserved. © 2002, 2007- Marvin Bartel
The author is available to consult and to review constructions plans. Inquire by email for more information.
CONTACT the author
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