Schools as Community Centers

After today's story about how Seattle schools will need to close buildings, we thought it timely that this post came out of the Portland Architecture blog. In a post entitled "Schools as True Community Centers," Brian Libby writes:

...what if in the future we looked at building a new kind of school where the building is shared with retail, offices, even residential? Instead of a single, two or three-story building for classes, administration and other school-only uses, you could build a new multi-story structure that could be rented out for various purposes. You could provide lower-income housing on the altruistic side, or you could take advantage of the gentrification happening in this area by renting out higher-end apartments.

A great question and one that was addressed and (re)considered as part of the charrette. Other cities have certainly used their spaces as multi-use areas. Take Chicago for example, their open space plans call out schools as integral for their open space network.

Just sayin', could be cool.