Portland, OR 2023

Design Notes: The Parent Teacher Association at a local public school invited us to renovate the school’s teacher’s lounge for Teacher Appreciation Week. The goal for the renovation was to make the space more versatile so it could be used for preparing/sharing food, working, socializing, or relaxing alone. An additional goal was to make the lounge a comfortable and adult-focused space so staff could have a reprieve from everything else in the building being so student-centered. The lounge had previously been used primarily as a storage room, and was rarely used by only a small percentage of the staff. The biggest joy was seeing the looks on the teacher’s faces when they came in for the first time–several shed tears of joy!