The Indian Community School of Milwaukee (ICS) is a privately owned and operated urban intertribal school educating American Indian children from kindergarten through the 8th grade and employing approximately 95 individuals.



Serving the Indian community of metro Milwaukee for more than 30 years, ICS provides its students a unique learning experience. American Indian spirituality, languages, ceremonies, cultural identity, and pride are major components of the children's education. The school serves 309 children from 12 different tribes.

Site Plan

Elevations

At the conception stage Predock visited the site and various tribal lands to get better informed and understand not only the physical but the mythical place the building would occupy. The comments that he received, along with the cultural background, and a thorough understanding of the site attributes, helped in shaping the project into its built form.
Indian Community School is one of three projects recipient of the 2009 CAE Educational Facility Design Award, Excellence category. The building follows the natural rolling topography of a former farm while preserving the remnant hardwood forest, ancient oak and shagbark hawthorn trees, on the site. Prairie and wetlands were restored as an outdoor learning experience. Nature and those dwelling inside the structure are seamlessly connected as every space provides unique associations with the exterior environment. The school strives to maintain the connection between the students and land.
The architect focused on giving a better accessibility to people in wheelchairs. They produced wider circulation areas and where floor level
changes occur, these areas get celebrated as special connecting nodes with
ramps and bright natural daylight that are used as gathering areas, places for storytelling, and small teaching spaces.


Images courtesy of the AIA.
Introductory text about the  Indian Community School via their web site.

Comments (0)

Name

Email

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment