PREFAB-IN-PROGRESS: OMD’s Country School Expansion
by Emily Pilloton
The latest cutting-edge prefab design from Jennifer Siegal’s Office of Mobile Design is the expansion of Valley Village, California’s Country School, adding a middle school campus to the existing preschool and elementary school. (We’re thrilled to see prefab systems being applied to more public and educational contexts!) While the construction isn’t quite finished, we think this is a great opportunity to show the process and progress of an exceptional prefab project- and one of the best (and first) prefab schools we’ve seen integrate so many green technologies. Check out the renderings and installation photos, courtesy of the Office of Mobile Design, and we’ll be sure to be give you a full report upon completion!
Building skeleton in the factory
The three-building, eleven steel-frame module project combines a slew of sustainable systems including natural lighting and ventilation, eco-friendly materials, efficient lighting, and integration with the surrounding landscape, creating a healthy environment for children and their teachers.
In plan, the central building houses offices and the library, while the west building contains three classrooms, a language lab and lockers, and the third, eastern building houses an art studio and science lab, which doubles as a community space in the evenings. In its materiality, the school employs Expanko and bamboo flooring, biocomposite panel cabinetry and homasote wall cladding.
Current installation progress of classroom modules
And to top it all off, Jennifer has considered the outdoor spaces of the project as well (and as any kid can attest to, playing outside during recess is the best part of the school day). The landscape will feature outdoor classrooms and gathering space, a theater, a raised vegetable garden, a frog pond and a stream.
We find this project particularly interesting as it is an addition to an existing structure, which provides not only site-specific but aesthetic and programmatic context. OMD’s concept for the Country School project “centers around educational, environmental, and fiscal responsibility.”
+ Office of Mobile Design
+ Interview with Jennifer Siegal
Module being built in the factory
On-site installation
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By coincidence (I suppose), I’ve been seeing a number of butterfly roofs recently in print and on the web. Do butterfly roofs present any extra maintenance issues compared with other roofing styles? Is there usually a slope on the intersection to keep leaves, etc. from accumulating?