Embedded in our school culture at the American Embassy School New Delhi is the commitment to improving and transforming our facilities. What started as a brief discussion between our HS Principal and myself led to the gutting of our atrium, all within the span of a couple of months.
While the old atrium looked nice with its' wooden decking and seating, it was rarely used. What you can't see in the photo were the white, ankle-breaking rocks that covered the ground.
Our Facilities Management crew came in, and within a week, the atrium went from the above photo to the new and improved version below.
While the new version does not have the polished feel of the old atrium, it gives us much more flexibility.
It can now be a space for:
Art exhibits.
A place for our choir to sing or band to play at lunch.
A testing location.
We'll add a large screen and sound system and will have an outdoor, mini-theatre.
We can easily add 10 tables (compared to 3) and have a mini-cafeteria, a space that was lacking for our students.
An outdoor classroom.
A space for students to lounge.
And more...
And that's just Phase 1. We can add some decking near the staircase for a stage and seating area in the future. My hope is to get a relaxing pond that students and staff can sit next to and relax.
While the FMO team worked on the ground, we had another team of workers directly above working on the framing for a retractable roof. In the poor AQI season of Delhi, this roof should improve the air quality of the atrium by 75%.
AES makes it easy for us to continually improve facilities, not only the atrium but with the creation of our high school mindfulness room.
5Ps of school improvement: program, people, process, policy and places.
@AESDelhi
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