The document describes renovations and additions to the American School of Bombay's campuses in Mumbai, India. A new elementary school was built in a separate location to accommodate growing enrollment. Flexible learning spaces called "home pods" were designed instead of traditional classrooms. Outdoor spaces include playgrounds, learning terraces, and a rooftop area with a pool, gardens and gathering spaces. Wayfinding uses animal icons to help students navigate the multi-story building. The goal was to create a student-centered environment that encourages independent learning.

1. American School of Bombay
Mumbai, India
7432 square meters
Grades Pre K-5
650 students

2. 3
American School of Bombay
Grade 1-5 Flexible Learning Community
FNI was selected as the Planning and Education Consultant and Design Architect for American School of Bombay’s (ASB) new
Elementary School and for the renovation and of their existing campus in the Bandra Kurla district. ASB is one of India’s leading
educational institutions and caters to a diverse international student body.
ASB’s existing campus was bursting at the seams with a long waiting list, so they purchased an 80,000 square foot, six story tower in
the Kohinoor Township to house the Elementary School, thus creating a split campus with the renovated campus becoming the
Secondary School. This challenge of a split campus was an opportunity to design a school based on the latest research in the field of
creating competent environments for elementary school students. Instead of classrooms with four walls, “home pods” made of two
moveable walls of cabinets on casters created flexible spaces for learning with views out to the commons and satellite libraries on
every floor. The Elementary School is scheduled to open September 2012.

3. 4
American School of Bombay
Outdoor Play Area
Creating stimulating, yet safe play areas can be a challenge, particularly in this urban setting which is in the same neighborhood of
the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai. In this playground designed for the youngest students, landscape has been added to create
pocket parks and the emergency fire lane has a cushioned play surface and tricycle track with a colorful mosaic tiled security wall
that is easy to power wash. The outdoor learning areas closest to the entries have trough sinks to allow students to work on art
projects in the shaded areas.
Each floor of the building has outdoor learning terraces to provide more outdoor learning spaces that are especially important to
children who live in apartment buildings and don’t’ get enough opportunities to be in nature.
Imagination Playground kits are a set of foam building blocks that
are designed to encourage child-directed, unstructured free play.
Students can create things such as homes, slides, seesaws, fanciful
creatures-anything powered by their imagination.

4. 5
American School of Bombay
Rooftop Exercise Spaces
The shaded pool is essential for providing recreation in the tropical climate of Mumbai. The rooftop with its multipurpose room,
swimming pool, shaded gardens, pizza oven and outdoor kitchen is envisaged to be used for community events and outdoor
learning. It also provides another space for expat parents to socialize and make new friends.
Pizza oven Outdoor kitchen

5. 6
American School of Bombay
Rooftop Outdoor Spaces
This rooftop gathering space creates a small oasis; the built-in seating is weatherproof, and vegetable gardens give students the
opportunity to enjoy the wonders of nature in an extremely dense urban city that lacks greenery.

6. Commons

7. Learning Studio

8. Satellite Cafe

9. Satellite Cafe

10. Music Room

11. Satellite Library

12. Kindergarten

13. 11
Color,
Material,
Texture
Furnishings and
lowered ceilings
create child-scaled
environments
Reading cubes
students can climb
inside for private
restorative “cave”
space
Tackable acoustic panels
allow student ownership &
personalization
Environmental Control
through movable
furnishings
Daylight &
Lighting
Control
American School of Bombay
Kindergarten Learning Community
Personal
Storage
cubbies
Each pod has an
animal for way
finding in 6 story
tower
Writeable surfaces
at child height
Ample storage of
resources at child
height
Wet & messy zone next
to kitchenette

14. 12
American School of Bombay
Dropped Ceilings for intimate scale and good acoustics
Each home pod has a dropped acoustical ceiling that creates a more intimate scale for children while providing excellent acoustical
absorbency to keep sound from traveling from one pod to the next.
Each pod has an animal icon for way finding in this six story tower and for home pod identity. Each stairwell is decorated with the
animals to make the journey up the stairs fun with small animal icons next to the doors so students can easily remember which floor
their home pod is on. The tower was originally designed for commercial use, so the emphasis was on elevators for vertical circulation
instead of the basic fire exit stairs that will now be decorated playfully.

15. 13
American School of Bombay
Way Finding Through Graphics
Twenty nine animal icons were
created to identify pods to help
children with way-finding. The variety
parallels multiculturalism within the
school.
Large animals such as elephants and
rhinos are assigned to older children
and smaller creatures such as the frog
or turtle are for the youngest.

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Outdoor Learning
Terrace
American School of Bombay
Typical learning community for Gr 1-5 students
Da Vinci Art & Science Studio
Media Resource Centre with zone
for parents an zone for learning
assistance
Teacher Collaboration
Workroom
Admin Offices
Gathering zone large
enough for all students
on one floor Servery & wet messy zone
(lunch will be delivered here
from the main kitchen)
Home pods
WC’s
WC’s
Small group rooms
Movement stools
Portable chairs & tables

17. 15
American School of Bombay
Media Resource Library
To contribute to the main design concept of encouraging independent learning, each floor has its own Media Resource Centre which
teachers can supervise from neighboring learning pods. A Librarian IT Support staff is at a help desk at each library to provide IT
support and help students and teachers hone their digital research skills. One zone of the library is set up for students who need
learning assistance such as one on one tutoring. The libraries include a small collection for parents since many books expatriates
would be interested in are not easily accessible in Mumbai and it gives them a space in which to socialize with other expats and
locals without disrupting learning spaces. Each satellite library has been adorned with a quote appropriate for the age group with
henna inspired graphics on each floor to give each library its own identity and define its space as part of the neighboring commons.

18. 16
American School of Bombay
Flexible Learning Pod
During our design workshops, teachers expressed ideas about what kind of learning spaces would support their curriculum. This
learning studio reflects their ideals: Space should not define what educational use would be. Design should support a student-
centered classroom. There should be plenty of room for multiple areas of learning that encourage independence and are all child
centered.

19. 17
American School of Bombay
Daylighting
Designing a school in a multi-storied building with a deep floor plate is especially challenging in regards to providing ample daylight
for the entire learning community even in the center of the floor. Open spaces such as this Commons allow daylight to penetrate into
the central area since there are no traditional classrooms and corridors with solid walls. The pod moveable storage walls have
windows to allow daylight to transfer through.