Planning a School: The Charrette Process

Planning a School: The Charrette Process

By Michael E. Hall, AIA, REFP, LEED AP
As featured in School Planning & Management, March 2003

A charrette is an intensive architectural design session or workshop. The term charrette is derived from the French expression en charrette, which means on the cart. Specifically, the reference is to the Ecole des Beaux Arts architectural students in 19th-century Paris, who carried their design projects to jury competitions in carts and worked along the way until the last possible minute.

Today, the charrette process implies a collaborative, creative design session - usually performed within a compressed schedule. The use of multiple design teams enables the architects to achieve several different solutions to a particular design challenge. Using the charrette process for school design provides a forum for community members to share their insights and concerns with the designers - and begin to see the results take shape right before their eyes.

"What normally happens when you begin to design a school is that you interview administrators and a few teachers, and you get basically the same thing each time, with a few new bells and whistles. When you take it to the community, you can go further and build on the broader vision of your strategic plan. If you want to reach out to a community, it's a vital step," says David E. Anstrand, REFP, construction administrator for the Manheim Township School District near Lancaster, PA., where planning meetings are underway for a new or renovated high school.

As architects, our job is usually a little easier when we work with a small, homogenous facilities committee. The smaller the group, the easier to make decisions and move ahead. But some of our best projects don't work that way. Many clients are determined to throw open the doors and welcome not only the administrators and teachers who will be most closely associated with the buildings, but the communities that these buildings represent and serve as well. These districts are usually richly rewarded in the interest and support they build for their schools.

The buildings themselves are enriched as well. When neighbors and teachers and parents sit side by side and plan a school together, a rare kind of give and take occurs, ideas flow forth, and challenges are raised and met. Communities are strengthened. Buildings come to life. People representing all facets of the community benefit, but the students benefit most of all.

How the Charrette Process Works
Depending upon the design challenge at hand, charrettes can be conducted as brief, intensive work sessions lasting just a few hours, or as "marathon" sessions - extending through the course of several hours or days - enabling community members ample time to stop in and contribute.

As an example, three separate charrette sessions - each lasting two days - were held for the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS), where a major school modernization program is underway.

Four teams of architects were stationed in a temporary "charrette studio" at DCPS. Each team received a set of the new DCPS Educational Specifications, or "ed specs." The ed specs document served as a guide to the overall educational vision of DCPS as well as to specific facility needs - size of classrooms, adjacencies, what types of classrooms and special spaces are needed, etc. With these materials in hand, the architects designed, in floor plan format, conceptual solutions for new facilities. As the teams began to produce rough concepts and layouts, they printed and posted the results. At the conclusion of each two-day session, each of the architectural teams gave a formal presentation of their proposed solution.

How Can the Public Contribute to This Process?
One of the most important reasons for using the charrette process is to provide an open forum for the community to observe and participate in the design sessions. The architectural teams should be receptive to questions, concerns, suggestions and feedback.

Community members contribute by visiting each of the stations and talking with the architects. They ask about the images they are seeing on the computer screens and review any drawings posted. Many visitors like to pull up a chair and join the team for a few minutes.

At the conclusion of the charrettes, the architectural teams typically make a final presentation. The public is also encouraged to attend and ask questions at this time as well.

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