It isn’t just for the sake of doing business that architect Steve Blatt wishes there were lots of island schools off the coast of Maine.
After designing the North Haven Community School, which opened this fall, he is now planning the renovations and new construction for the Islesboro Central School.
That experience is making him realize the significance of these institutions in an island community. Typically the largest of all civic buildings on an island, and considered the most important, island schools provide many facilities also shared with the public, perhaps offering a fitness center, gymnasium, library, music and art studios, gallery space, auditorium, meeting rooms, computer technology, cafeteria and kitchen.
Schools can offer residents a place to shoot hoops, compete at volleyball, attend cultural performances, enjoy a fundraiser, or share a potluck. But most importantly, as Blatt sees it, these schools make islands a viable place for families to live.
Born and raised in Auburn, Blatt grew up in a multigenerational Maine family. He attended Yale University for both an undergraduate degree in English Literature and a master’s in architecture, and subsequently worked in various cities around the United States, but came back home to Maine to establish his business in 1976.
Originally in Lewiston, he moved his office to Portland in the mid-1980s. With a concurrent expansion of staff, his firm became known as Stephen Blatt Architects. One specialty of theirs is the design of schools.
As a sailor who knows the coast, and with a home on Vinalhaven, Blatt feels comfortable working with island communities. And he sees one of his initial tasks in designing their schools as getting to know the community. He especially feels that staff who will work and teach in a school, and not just administrators, should be involved in articulating what a new building should provide.
Blatt says his goal as architect is “to make a school the best it can be for everybody.” He believes the building needs to be welcoming and available to the public and also serve as a source of civic pride. He hopes his designs draw on the ambience and the architecture of the community, at the same time slightly reinterpreting some aspect of that look. He calls it “edgy;” and that could be interpreted to mean that some slight variation of a familiar theme offers a fresh, new perspective.
If school buildings define what communities want to see as best about themselves, past and present, they also are pointing to the future. That suggests to Blatt that schools need facilities that use cutting edge technology at the same time as supporting the acquisition of some traditional skills. Examples of this include North Haven’s solar car project and Islesboro’s program to teach students how to graft new stock from the island’s apple trees.
Island schools, according to Blatt, should offer the same kinds of quality options as those on the mainland. For example, in North Haven’s, the high school section has lockers. The school’s youngest students have bathrooms connected to their classrooms. There is an office for counseling, and space for students receiving specialized instruction. While taking advantage of the town’s public library services, there is also a library at the school.
There are ways, Blatt points out, that island schools can differ, too. Because the class size is smaller, rooms are smaller. The front door can be more open and inviting; security issues are not ignored, but they are not necessarily at the forefront, as they might be in some mainland schools.
In a small school, you could anticipate everyone there would figure out how to find their way around. But when a school invites residents to be regular visitors, the building needs to be made easily navigable. The North Haven school, for example, has three well-identified spaces branching off a commons area. There are the “neighborhoods” of elementary, middle, and high school classrooms; the library, art and music wing; and the gymnasium and fitness center.
The buildings Blatt designs are as “green” as possible: energy efficient, environmentally friendly, and affordable to operate. He incorporates solar panels and passive solar design.
Islesboro’s renovated school may use geothermal heat. The quality of air is important, with state-of-the-art ventilation. The schools include many locally grown and produced materials, and the technology is visible. North Haven showcases wood and stone from the area, as will Islesboro’s.
Blatt’s work suggests that schools-the building itself-can serve as a kind of teacher. It could be in how windows frame the landscape and describe a view, in how the building’s systems are made visible, in how a room holds students and facilitates their interaction, and how a doorway invites entry to a place of learning. The school as a living entity. Just like any good educator in the classroom, it can spark curiosity and develop new understanding.