FRIENDS SELECT SCHOOL   PHILADELPHIA, PA

RENOVATIONS TO FRIENDS SELECT SCHOOL

Renovations to a college-preparatory, Quaker school for Pre-K through 12th grade students.  Located on Philadelphia’s Benjamin Franklin Parkway, the school’s 1968 building was outmoded, both functionally and aesthetically.  The work included opening up ground floor lobby spaces to create commons areas for informal meeting, study, receptions, and other events.  Administrative offices are located near a new entry, which has enhanced security.  Primary academic and fine arts classrooms open off the commons spaces, with glass fronts to allow daylight to filter into the center of building, and a less formal demarcation between teaching and communal space.  A palette of brown ash woodwork, aluminum window walls, monumental floor tile, and warm colors are intended to create a non-institutional ambience.