Crossing Generations
Retirement Home / Montessori Primary School
On the site of the recently demolished School in London this scheme looks to cultivate what political science calls 'inter-generational equity' ? the exchange of skills and values between the two 'bookends' of society ? for greater social benefit. Cross-programming a Montessori primary school with sheltered housing sets the two demographics within an intimate landscape of exchange. However, the specific execution of the spatial strategy is derived from the Montessori education model itself. Established more than a century ago, the system advocates spatial freedom, and discovery and growth through contact with materials and people. All the spaces required by both demographics become shared areas of interaction and recreation; places where the cohabitants might equally engage in storytelling, baking or a competitive game of croquet. The project transforms a divisive political issue into a cohesive spatial strategy, and resolves it to a convincing level of detailed design thinking.