Based on Maria Montessori s philosophy that a school should be a children s house, everything in the building is scaled to the body of a child from storage spaces to furniture and equipment. Following that model, it was easy to get the scale stuff right, said Mary-Ann Ray of Studio Works Architects in Los Angeles, the firm that designed the school. Studio Works was praised for its innovative design of the school in Architecture Magazine. They renovated an old Catholic school, keeping only the elements that would fit into their new design. The new classrooms are wide open and spacious, and much of the furniture is composed of platforms of various levels with steps for seats.
False skylights simulate daylight, replacing standard fluorescent lighting.
In one area of the school, two main hallways lead into an area called the wooden triangle theater. The space s triangular shape provides students with an unusual performance space. In the Montessori method, students learn by handling and making objects that represent concepts. According to Ray, the architects strived to embody these principles in their design. For example, we built spaces that are meant to represent islands and peninsulas which are part of the topographical models Montessori students use to learn geography, said Ray.