As part of our 50th anniversary celebration, it is with great pleasure that I announce that we are now formally in the design phase of the Baldwin Innovation Center, with construction to follow in 2020. The Innovation Center concept has been in development since the completion of the Visual and Performing Arts Center (VPAC) in 2012. The Innovation Center is a game changer in secondary education, both here and abroad. If Baldwin is to be counted as an internationally elite 21st century campus, we must design and construct purpose-built spaces that support research literacy and multimedia, computer sciences, applied sciences, and secondary/tertiary language acquisition and development. While we have implemented preliminary Design coursework in the Middle Years Program (MYP), we have no defined “maker’s spaces”—those that foster ideation, design thinking, prototyping, beta testing and evaluation. The Innovation Center will address these current challenges, as well as the need for additional MUS classroom spaces and a new nurse’s station.
The Innovation Center, designed to LEED specifications, will offer a cafe style e-library, diverse individual and small group work stations, fluid ideation/production spaces, and university-grade scientific laboratories. Furthermore, this capital project will allow us to remodel current library spaces to meet the unique needs of early childhood and elementary learners, and expand our current literacy initiatives. Much like the Visual and Performing Arts Center (VPAC), the construction of the Innovation Center and redesign of the Primary Library will be transformational for all Baldwin students.
We are benchmarking all design elements, borrowing from some of the nation’s most forward-thinking programs, schools, universities, and corporations, including Stanford’s d.school and MIT’s Media Lab. We are researching design-thinking and the studio concept so as to ensure maximum effect and seamless integration within our International Baccalaureate scope and sequence. We are pursuing grants and corporate sponsorships (in process). Proud Baldwin parent Monique Lugo is lead architect for Álvarez-Díaz and Villalón.
We are building an even better Baldwin!