When celebrated architect Bjarke Ingels set out to design WeGrow’s first school in New York City, the challenge was not simply to build classrooms. It was to rethink what a learning environment could be. Located within WeWork’s Chelsea headquarters, the 929-square-meter (10,000-square-foot) school for children aged three to nine breaks away from conventional educational layouts. The project demonstrates how thoughtful architectural design in educational architecture can shape the way children learn, interact, and grow. By prioritizing transparency, natural light, and flexible spaces, the WeGrow school offers a model for future educational facilities worldwide. The project represents a collaboration between BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group) and WeWork’s education arm, WeGrow, combining world-class architectural talent with a progressive educational philosophy.
The Design Philosophy Behind WeGrow
Bjarke Ingels Group approached the WeGrow school with a philosophy rooted in breaking down barriers. Traditional schools often rely on compartmentalized classrooms separated by solid walls and closed doors. WeGrow rejects this model entirely. The design encourages collaboration by emphasizing transparent and communal spaces that allow children to see across the learning environment. The underlying principle is that architecture should not constrain how children learn but rather expand the possibilities for how they engage with knowledge, with each other, and with their surroundings.
Transparency as a Learning Tool
Glass walls and open sightlines are central to the school’s layout. Children can observe activities in adjacent spaces, which fosters curiosity and a sense of connectedness. The design intentionally removes visual barriers so that learning becomes a visible, shared experience rather than an isolated activity. This approach is grounded in educational research showing that children learn through observation and imitation. When a child can see peers engaged in a science experiment or an art project, they become naturally drawn to explore those activities themselves.
Key Transparency Features
- Interior glass partitions instead of solid walls between classrooms
- Low-profile shelving that maintains sightlines at child height
- Open-plan workshop areas visible from multiple zones
- Clear sightlines between play areas and learning zones
- Glass-fronted storage that makes learning materials visible and accessible
Biophilic Elements and Connection to Nature
The school incorporates biophilic design principles through treehouses and a vertical farm. These features bring natural elements indoors and give children direct exposure to living systems. The treehouse structures serve as reading nooks and quiet retreats, while the vertical farm teaches children about food growth and sustainability through daily observation. Biophilic design has been shown to reduce stress, improve cognitive function, and enhance overall well-being in educational settings. By integrating these elements directly into the learning environment rather than relegating them to a separate outdoor space, the WeGrow school makes nature an integral part of the daily educational experience.
Spatial Organization and Flexibility
The 929-square-meter floor plan is organized as a field of interconnected spaces rather than a corridor-led layout. Each zone serves multiple purposes, and furniture is designed for reconfiguration. This flexibility supports the school’s pedagogical approach, which emphasizes self-directed movement and activity-based learning. Children are not assigned to a single desk for the entire day; instead, they move between zones based on the activity and their interests. This fluid movement pattern mimics how adults work in modern collaborative environments and prepares children for a world where adaptability is a core skill.
Zone Breakdown
| Zone | Size (approx.) | Primary Function | Flexible Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Classroom Pods | 4 rooms | Structured learning activities | Small group work, individual study |
| Workshop Areas | Flexible zones | Hands-on projects and making | Art, science experiments, building |
| Multipurpose Studio | Central space | Group activities and presentations | Yoga, performances, all-school meetings |
| Music and Art Rooms | Dedicated spaces | Creative expression | Individual practice, group sessions |
| Treehouse Nooks | Scattered throughout | Quiet reading and reflection | Small group discussions, rest |
This organizational approach mirrors what forward-thinking intelligent building technology advocates: spaces that adapt to user needs rather than forcing users into fixed layouts. The integration of technology throughout the space including adjustable lighting, movable partitions, and wireless connectivity ensures that the physical environment can evolve alongside the curriculum.
Child-Centered Ergonomics
One of the most deliberate design decisions involves the height of shelves and storage units. Most shelving inside the school is raised only to the level of a child. This achieves two important objectives:
- Natural light penetration – Low shelving allows daylight to reach deep into the building, reducing the need for artificial lighting during daytime hours and creating a more pleasant learning atmosphere throughout the floor plate
- Child autonomy – Children can access learning materials independently, which supports self-directed exploration and decision-making without requiring adult assistance for every item they need
Furniture throughout the school is scaled to the three-to-nine age range. Chairs, tables, sinks, and even door handles are positioned at heights that children can use comfortably and independently. This attention to ergonomic detail reinforces the message that the school belongs to its students, not to the adults who supervise them.
Acoustics and Atmospheric Design
Acoustic performance is a critical but often overlooked element in educational spaces. Open-plan environments, while valuable for collaboration, can become noisy and distracting without proper acoustic treatment. The WeGrow school addresses this through custom acoustic clouds made of felt. These ceiling elements serve a dual purpose: they absorb sound to maintain appropriate noise levels in an open-plan environment, and they create visual interest through nature-inspired patterns that stimulate curiosity and wonder.
Acoustic Cloud Patterns
- Fingerprint pattern – representing human uniqueness and identity
- Coral pattern – evoking marine ecosystems and organic growth
- Landscape pattern – referencing natural topography and outdoor exploration
- Moon pattern – connecting to celestial cycles and the broader universe
Each cloud is illuminated with bulbs that shift in color and intensity, allowing the atmosphere of the space to change throughout the day. This dynamic lighting supports different activity types from focused individual work to energetic group collaboration. The felt material provides sound absorption coefficients appropriate for the varied acoustic demands of an open school environment. Early morning light might be warm and gentle for settling in, while afternoon lighting becomes more vibrant to support active play and creative projects.
Daylight Optimization
Natural light is a defining feature of the WeGrow design. The low shelving strategy mentioned earlier works in concert with the building’s existing window configuration to maximize daylight distribution. Research consistently shows that access to natural light improves student concentration, mood, and academic performance. By prioritizing daylight penetration, the design team ensured that the entire floor plate benefits from natural illumination rather than concentrating it at the perimeter. The Chelsea headquarters location, with its large industrial windows typical of New York City’s warehouse architecture, provides an ideal shell for this daylight strategy. Glazing specifications were selected to maximize visible light transmission while managing solar heat gain and glare.
Color Psychology and Wayfinding
Color plays a strategic role in the WeGrow school’s design. Different zones use distinct color palettes to help children navigate the space intuitively. Warm tones in creative areas signal active engagement, while cooler tones in reading nooks promote calm and concentration. This color-based wayfinding system reduces the need for signage and allows even the youngest children to orient themselves independently. The palette draws from natural materials wood tones, soft greens, and muted blues creating a calming backdrop that does not overstimulate.
Lessons for Educational Facility Designers
The WeGrow school offers several takeaways for architects, specifiers, and construction professionals working on educational facilities. The project demonstrates that material selection, spatial planning, and user-centered design converge to create spaces that actively support learning outcomes rather than simply housing educational activities.
Material Selection Criteria
The choice of materials in the WeGrow school was driven by three priorities: child safety, acoustic performance, and visual warmth. Felt, wood, and glass dominate the palette. These materials appear across educational facilities that prioritize both performance and aesthetics, where surface quality matters as much as structural function. All materials were evaluated for off-gassing, durability under heavy use, and ease of cleaning specifying low-VOC products throughout to maintain indoor air quality in a space occupied by young children for extended periods.
What Construction Professionals Should Consider
- Ceiling treatments matter – Acoustic clouds, baffles, and absorptive panels should be specified early in the design phase, not as an afterthought, and coordinated with sprinkler and lighting layouts
- Daylight modeling – Use daylight simulation software during schematic design to optimize window placement and interior partition heights for uniform light distribution
- Flexible MEP layouts – Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems should accommodate reconfigurable floor plans without requiring major retrofits when space uses evolve
- Child-scale detailing – Every element from door handles to light switches should be specified at heights and sizes appropriate for the age group occupying each space
- Multi-sensory design – Consider how materials look, sound, feel, and even smell within the learning environment, specifying products that engage multiple senses positively
Projects such as the Apollo Career Center expansion using insulated metal panels demonstrate that educational facilities can achieve both performance goals and design excellence through thoughtful material specification. The same principle applies whether specifying an entire building enclosure or the interior finishes of a single classroom.
Cost and Value Considerations
While custom elements such as felt acoustic clouds and treehouse structures represent upfront investment, they deliver long-term value through improved learning outcomes and space utilization. The open-plan design reduces the total square footage required compared to a traditional corridor-based school, potentially offsetting some of the premium on specialized features. When evaluated on a lifecycle basis, the enhanced durability of specified materials, the energy savings from optimized daylighting, and the improved educational outcomes associated with well-designed learning spaces all contribute to a compelling return on investment.
The WeGrow school stands as a proof of concept that educational architecture can move beyond the classroom paradigm. By treating the entire school as a learning landscape rather than a collection of rooms, Bjarke Ingels Group has created an environment where education happens everywhere not just within four walls. For design and construction professionals, the project offers a compelling vision of what is possible when architecture serves pedagogy directly, and when the built environment is designed around the needs of its youngest and most impressionable users.