Project Brief

Originally a competition entry titled Crew, this project integrated a lake freighter and new education philosophies for the new Campus International School in Cleveland.  Subsequent to the competition, the architecture was dismantled in the animation titled Crew 2.0.

Competition Narrative

The core architectural element of the Campus International School is a lake freighter, the Joseph H. Frantz.  The Frantz is the sister ship of the William G. Mather, which is docked near the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and used as a museum.  The Mather claims the title “the ship that built Cleveland”, but the Frantz shares much of the same heritage.  The Frantz, however, has been retired and is being scrapped in Port Colborne, Ontario.  This proposal reclaims the remains of the lake freighter and uses them not only practically, but more importantly becomes a symbol of teamwork, adaptability in learning, and the grand goals of students and the Campus International School itself.

Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision; the ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.

Andrew Carnegie

In terms of education, our current model of learning has missed the boat.  We measure each student against a rigid prescriptive standard in order to gauge success or failure.  In this system there is no way for a student’s true calling to be developed or nurtured.  Yet we work to be sure that each student meets minimum achievement in a broad spectrum of academic areas, forming the perfectly average student.  The Campus International School, however, seeks to create exceptional students.

A better model is one where exploration is used to uncover talent.  Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire and good educator is one who can recognize talent and challenge it to develop.  Recognition of various talents leads to better placement within teams with other talent and weaknesses that can be supplemented and be a source of learning.

Team-based projects improve upon our classic learning model of regurgitating lectures from a “sage on a stage”.  The fact is that children learn from a variety of sources beyond their parents and teachers; they learn much from their peers.  Team based projects bring that level of learning into the classroom for educators to manage.

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. 

Clarence Darrow, on the theory of Charles Darwin

The most successful students and leaders of the future will be those who learn to apply their skills to a variety of problems, changing continuously.

The Joseph H. Frantz is a lesson on adaptability.  The ship itself was a powerful, efficient lake freighter, and was retired because it could no longer do its job.  But the ship still has great value in term of creating an explorable landscape, acting as a living museum, creating unique spaces that engage learners, and becoming a symbol of adaptation.

For this school, adaptability means reacting to an environment which is rapidly changing.  This is especially true for technology combined with the information age and globalization.  Young minds must be able to navigate a deluge of information that is never static, and be able to assign it value.

Reacting to a changing environment, whether on the basketball court or on Twitter, requires recognition of signs, understanding of theory, and application of reaction.  These lessons belong in our classrooms.

Make no little plans.

Daniel Burnham

The ship is a reminder to students that a dedicated and diverse crew can perform with the greatest success at the grandest scale; that a 600+ foot ship can be run by just a few sailors who have applied their skill.  Also, a symbol as stimulating as a freighter can challenge what is possible in the eyes of a child, and expand the boundaries in which they view the world, especially for a child living in the Cleveland metropolitan area.  The Frantz also becomes a billboard to attract more talented teachers.  It advertises values of forward progress, action, and change.  Most of all, the Campus International School becomes an embodied reminder to the students and staff to make no small plans, and let their dreams set sail.