The Fall and Rise of Bessie Carmichael Elementary

Walking out of Design class last week, I ran into Amanda at the stairs. She's an SF native artist that was in the same group I was in for the Stone Soup project. We chatted for a bit but when she mentioned she was from San Francisco, I realized I needed to blog as soon as possible. Hey, we're all different type of procrastinators; it just took me time to receive photos from an old friend from my elementary school in SF.

I attended this school for a short period from preschool till the end of 2^nd grade. The architecture of this school seemed pretty out dated, even for the years I was there. They were long one story buildings with numerous wings with a long roofed balcony in front of the each room. There were three different yards, two of which were used for play and the other a courtyard, usually used for pictures or some kind of class activity. The school was pretty open to the outside natural environment but of course fenced in for our safety.

Years later, back in 2009, I came back to check out the school, only to find out that my old elementary was turned into a public park, but, luckily, the school had just moved right next door. The design of the new school blew my mind.

The green tint they used for the buildings and the wooden panels used on the benches, stairs, railings, and possibly around the other side of the building, no doubt, screams, “Eco Friendly Friends Found Here!” It seems like they've kept the long roofed balcony to honor its predecessor. The composition of the straight and sharp flats and edges give it that architectural look versus something that looks abstract.

From what I thought was the end of my childhood elementary school actually turned out to be the birth of a newer, more technologically advanced building (I was there when they had those old Apple Macintosh computers at the computer lab with the green and black screens). Design will always die down, yet always spring up from new ideas. This forever cycling of design is what keeps most of us motivated and, hopefully, moving forward.