Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1958-07-10
Evolutionary Process
School Design
Energies Slowly
BY Dorothy WaIeski
staff Reporter


WHY not round classrooms? Why don't all
classrooms have slanted ceilings and indirect
lighting? Why aren't schools built Of glass
blocks?
Experimental design in school buildings is
perennial question 1t was posed most recently
at meeting of the Montgomery County School
Board and its Architectural Advisory Committee
Building regulations and construction stand.
ards should be flexible enough to allow the
architects TO "crate" designs, the School Board
was told by the committee.
"Creativity in itself doesn't cost money" said
John W. Macleod one of the six top area archi-
tects on the committee.
But James Sheldon, the board of eduea-
tons director of construction feels different
Iy. Creativity can be very costly especially IL
the experiment is a failure
His answer to the architects is why round
classrooms if rectangular classrooms work as
well?' Burden of proof is on the architects as
far as he is concerned.
The construction engineer would have to be
shown by practical demonstration of circular
classroom in use and its advantages over the
conventional rectangle.
Before he would commit even portion of
Montgomery school to the unusual design, Sheldon
would have to be convinced by the architects that
it was superior construction as far as the teach.
ing program and the budget are concerned. These
are the two criteria against which he measures
all school construction.
This does not mean that he is against innova
ton, Sheldon stressed. He is just waiting to be
shown"
Within the framework of the budget and
what the teacher does in the classroom, Sheldon is
constantly trying new materials and methods of
supervision and inspection with the aim of inn
proving school buildings in the county.
Working within the budget doesn't always
mean taking the cheapest way out. Music rooms,
for instance are more expensive to build than
five years ago but today's music room with its
soundproofing storage for instruments and uni
FORMS and equipment serves the purpose for
which it is used. The less expensive room was in
adequate for its purpose.
Science laboratories are also increasing
i'm expense but here too shortcuts would make
the laboratories useless for one of the schools
most valuable programs.
Sometimes buying the best in the beginning
saves money in the long run. Kitchen equipment,
for example, worked through phases of galvanized
iron, enameled ware to stainless steel are the
only answer to the kind of wear and tear it is
schools are now of Alberene stone the hardest
and best material obtainable.
Before Alberene was used terrazzo stair
treads had proved vulnerable to shoes with cleats.
However terrazzo floors, hard polished cement
flooring Stimulating marble are proving their
worth in high school corridors in a few schools.
After their period of experimentation they may
well be accepted as the standard for these cor
ridors.
This slow "testing by time and use" is
SheldOn's method of experimenting without
wasting hunks of the taxpayers money on
the untried.
Sometimes architectural ideas that have been
proved acceptable elsewhere turn out to have
bugs" when used in the classroom The theory
of lighting behind the use of glass blocks is per-
fectly valid but tried out in the county, they were
found to let in glare and heat to the extent that
teachers were forced to wear sunglasses to class.
Skylights save electricity by natural lighting
but not if the teachers insist on turning on all
the lights anyway. This was found to be the case
plus the fact that skylights are hard to "black-
out" when showing films. So why spend the
money, asks Sheldon?
The campus plan" of classrooms without
inside corridors which waste space and money
works fine in California and Florida. Montgom-
ery's weather makes outside passage impossible
for teachers and children good part of the time.
Another good idea but not for us, is the construc-
ton directors comment.
The directors office is piled with samples of
glass, ceiling blocks, painted cinder blocks, floor
tiles that he will try out in small way, one
school at time, until he is sure of their value
in saving either time or money without hurting
the schools primary purpose of teaching children.
the first and top steps. The present scale
ranges from $4,000 to $4,000 for ABB degree
teachers. Winters proposal raises this to
$45O0 to $710O for 10 months and $64SO to
$500 in IL months