Spoiler
It's an elementary school.
Lafayette, Louisiana is so car dependent that their brand new elementary school is built like an industrial center where trucks line up to deliver and pick up goods.
All of this for a demographic (kids) that can't even drive.
I knew it was a new school because it looks it's designed to slow down active shooters. One main entrance on each side. Classrooms are asymmetrical off shoots of the main hall so it's confusing to navigate for invaders. I would bet you can close down sections of the main hallway with gates as well as each wing.
So not only car-brained but freedom-brained as well.
oh, wow
the car drop-off/pick-up circuit gave it away as a school, but it never occurred to me that they'd start designing the buldings around the possibility of shooters
Wouldn't you want something circular to break the shooters line of sight
If I understand the question, a circular shape or arrangement would still give them direct line of sight on the curve's normal angle.
You want to avoid having a central spot to shoot from
and instead emulate the trench zigzag pattern to the extent that is reasonable.I say reasonable as if anything about this is.
In most cases kids should not be driven to school by their parents. Schools which are not in extremely rural areas should be designed so as to discourage this practice
At my kids's school here in Europe the city has put up posters on nearby lamp posts shaming parents for driving kids to school and telling how every kid should ride a bike to school.
Lots of parents still drive their kids for whatever reason but the general consensus is that it is best for kids to bike, not only for health and environmental reasons but also as a way to develop independence.
I don't want to doxx you, but that line of thinking sounds very Dutch. On the one hand I like the promotion of non-car based modes of transport, on the other, the overemphasis on "independence" for children dutch people have creeps me out a bit, and kind of explains a lot of the interactions i've had with Dutch people, who even when well-meaning can be stubbornly individualistic and callous.
Several northern European countries have a bike culture that is similar to the Dutch so don't worry about doxing me. Bikes just works really good in flat densely populated areas.
I think your point about overemphasis on independence is interesting and I would love if you could elaborate. Northern Europeans have a reputation for being introverted and hard to get close to but I have never thought that it had something to do with parenting styles.
I still think there is value in teaching kids that they can go places and do stuff without constant adult supervision. If nothing else it is practical for parents that they don't have to chauffeur their children everywhere. But you might have a point about communal values being neglected in the process.
Also what are the 200 parking spots for? Usually teachers are the only ones that need to park
i was going to guess school before seeing the spoiler but wtf do they not even get a basic playground? that's why i initially was like "no fucking way that's a school"
There might be. If that city is anything like mine the administrators wanted paved playgrounds because they cost slightly less to maintain. Playground at my elementary looked like a fucking parking lot. So many kids got injured worse than they should have playing sports lol
It's over in that dirtfield with saplings in the center-left of the picture, between the perfectly good shade trees and the metal canopy for the basketball courts.
There’s a playground in that that triangle shaped back behind the first layer of buildint
They do, it's in the nook of the L-shaped building on the far left, fenced in. You can see swings and a slide at least. Not huge or elaborate, but it's something.
This was my guess too. Then again, it looks eerily similar to my high school, which was designed by a firm that designs prisons
Where's the playgrounds? And the fields? And the basketball courts?
