PS 19
Modular components visibly combine, engaging students’ minds and forming libraries that otherwise would not exist.
Pro bono design for the Robin Hood Foundation: prototypical libraries in five New York City public schools.
Tsao & McKown faced the challenge of having to meet two contrary programmatic demands: the need for group instruction and activities, versus the need for there to be individual, solitary paths for intellectual discovery. The resulting design aimed to preserve the wonder and astonishment foster the wonders attainable by reading in private, while also celebrating communal activities. Bookcases, in all their iconic majesty, were used to define spaces for small reading groups and for individual refuge. Larger reading areas included a stage where students might have their first experiences engaging a larger group as a leader or performer.
Economical means of construction and sustainability were considerations which influenced the choice of materials and detailing. Simple, apparently unfinished aspects of design were intentionally employed to encourage young minds to fit the pieces of the library together as they would their own building blocks.
As part of this project, Tsao & McKown designed custom furnishings including the multi-functional ‘Flip/Flop Desk/Chair,’ a one-piece molded foam reading stool, and molded acrylic ‘cloud’ lights which simply hang below school-standard fluorescent strips.
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Designing for Learning
Our project was about taking learning beyond information and into the realm of discovery and re-enactment. Learning can be a very private activity and learning can be a very public activity. We made areas where children can take a book and curl up and read it in private, and areas for group learning, sharing and acting, [including a] stage for participatory performances.
- Calvin Tsao and Zack McKown
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Sketches and Notations
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Drawings and Renderings
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Furniture and Lighting
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ArticleNY Times: Libraries Invite Young Readers to Check In
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ArticleArchitectural Record: The L!Brary Goes Back to School
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ArticleArchitecture: Reading Rooms
The Robin Hood Foundation and its band of merry architects are building libraries for New York City public school.
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PublicationThe L!brary Book: Design Collaborations in the Public Schools
The L!brary Book takes readers behind the scenes of fifty groundbreaking library projects to show how widely varied fields and communities—corporate underwriters, children’s book publishers, architects, graphic designers, product manufacturers, library associations, teachers, and students—can join forces to make a difference in the lives of children. Based on the premise that good library design can actually inspire learning, the L!brary Initiative brings together some of the world’s leading architects to reimagine the elementary school libraries in New York City—the nation’s largest public school system.
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ArticleNY Times: A Is for Artwork That Lures Bronx Schoolchildren to New Libraries
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ArticleBloomberg News: Robin Hood Foundation Raises Record $88 Million to Help New York City’s Poor
The Robin Hood Foundation gala, Wall Street’s largest single-evening fundraising event, raised a record of more than $88 million at its New York dinner last night to feed and clothe the city’s destitute. The sum, donated by more than 3,600 attendees including executives at Wall Street banks, hedge funds and private-equity companies, exceeded last year’s record of $72.7 million.
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ArticleCNN Money: The Story of Robin Hood
How the leaders of the hedge fund world have banded together to fight poverty – taking gobs of money from the rich, applying strict financial metrics in giving it away, and making philanthropy cool among the business elite.
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Robin Hood Foundation
We find, fund and partner with programs that have proven they are an effective remedy to poverty and are a consistent force for good in the lives of New Yorkers in need. We employ a rigorous system of metrics and third-party evaluation to ensure grantee accountability. The board pays all administrative and fundraising costs, so 100% of donations goes directly to helping New Yorkers in need build better lives. We work closely with our grantees to make them more effective, enabling them to assist even more people.
Learn more about the foundation Read about The L!brary Initiative
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NYC Board of Education
The New York City Department of Education is the largest system of public schools in the United States, serving about 1.1 million students in over 1,700 schools.
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NYC Libraries
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Consultants
Pentagram, Michael Bierut & Ryan Byrd
Graphic Design
Eastco Buildings Services, Inc.
Contractor
F.J. Sciame Construction Co., Inc.
Construction Manager
International Woodwork, Inc.
Millwork
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T&M Team
Calvin Tsao
Zack McKown
Kyo Chin
Brian Mikulencak
Aurturo Padilla
Gerard Sullivan
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Related Projects: Architects
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Related Projects: Graphic Designers and Muralist