Return to School

In A World With COVID

No one has experienced this particular transition back to school. This moment of re-entry is certain to come with heightened anxiety and fear about being enclosed in a space with others. Rules and Guidelines will continue to be written in the coming weeks and months. Download the toolkit here.

PSF was one of five design firms selected to participate in a month-long intensive organized by Urban Projects Collaborative (UPC) and Brooklyn Laboratory Charter Schools (LAB). The goal was to create a “Back To School Toolkit” to help educators and administrators plan an eventual return to the classroom in a city where social distancing and strict hygiene protocols will be part of our new normal.

PSF identified safe passage from the street to the classroom as one of the biggest challenges facing schools as they prepare to reopen. All over New York City, as in other dense urban environments, schools typically have a single point of entry leading to a stairwell. Lining up students six feet apart on the sidewalk, as they wait to start their school day under new health protocols is not only unpleasant and cumbersome, but would create dangerous bottlenecks on shared public walkways.

In response to this challenge, we developed an analytical model for socially distanced vertical circulation, and the installation of additional entrances as needed, using existing modular scaffold systems. For LAB we were able to cut wait times by 67%.

Carefully selected materials such as geotextile fabrics and metal meshes can elevate and transform the typical scaffold into an intervention which makes it safe and also gives it “lightness”. The scaffold can catch and reflect light. Simultaneously it can be a fun framework for hand washing, collecting one’s breakfast, sharing student work, and engaging with friends.

You can find more information about the entire project at www.equitybydesign.org