Projects by Name

Edith Ferry Hooper, a long time client of Breuer’s for whom he designed two houses, chaired the building committee that chose Breuer to design new facilities for the youngest students at the Bryn Mawr School for Girls in Baltimore, Maryland. The program had to accommodate 220 students from kindergarten through 5th grade along with 26 teachers. Breuer and his partner Hamilton P. Smith envisioned three separate volumes for the administrative offices and gymnasium, 2nd through 5th grade classrooms, and kindergarten and 1st grade classrooms. They arranged these volumes in a loose L-shape and connected them with a covered walkway whose entrance was marked by a canopy supported on four large piers. Separating the classroom wings into separate structures allowed Breuer to create distinct yet flexible spatial zones in the open classrooms required by the school’s educational philosophy. Play grounds, athletic fields and parking spaces surrounded the school buildings, which resembled many of Breuer’s earlier residential projects.