Integrating Art with Architecture

Svigals + Partners

Svigals + Partners

The imaginative integration of figurative art with the architecture is a signature of our school designs. The L.W. Beecher School is no exception.
Gracing the entrance of the school is a colorful and vibrant 18ft steel caryatid that functionally supports the school's canopy and figuratively acts as an abstract expression of two mythical figures: "Gideon", calling students to school, and "Pied Piper" who, if the promise of education is not received, calls students away.


Additional Info:

This renovation/addition project, consisted of demolishing three previous renovations and adding 63,000 s.f. to the original 26,000 s.f. facility built in 1913. The school's design is an expression of the angles of the surrounding street grid and the significant grade change on the site. We developed creative ways to allow natural light into the addition while meeting the project's extensive programmatic needs within a constrained urban site.


Credits:
Images by Robert Benson
Materials:
Steel caryatid sculpture
Hand-crated aluminum frieze
Brick facade- Cushwa, Sioux City Brick & Tile, Carolina Ceramics, Glen-Gery Brick
PreK-8: L.W. Beecher School | New Haven, CT
Photos:

L.W. Beecher School entrance