BUILDING FOR SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY - Kennedy Bibliothek

- and the indoor recreation building, containing a community gymnasium,
an olympic-size swimming pool and locker rooms.
Both wings are built on an axis rotated 45 degrees to that of the old
building, forming entrances at the grid intersections. The old building
with its leaded lights, castellions and flying buttresses was treated as
a jewel in a new setting of deliberately neutral additions without strong
articulation. Funded by the Board of Education, the City, and the
Federal Model Cities Program, the entire construction and reconstruction
costs amounted to $2 million for altogether 68 000 sq. ft. (6 320 m ) of
space. (See Figures 15 and 16).
168. According to an interview in January 1976 with Robert L. Potts,
Assistant Superintendent for Human Relations and Community Services, Mack
Elementary School is still the only school in Ann Arbor which, from an
architectural point of view, might be called a community school. All the
other newly built schools have few specific community features, except wings
that can be closed off or special entrances for sports facilities. Mr. Potts
added that financial restrictions at the moment preclude any additional
costs for building community facilities.
169. In view of this, it seems even more disappointing to find that Mack
is not used to its full capacity. Neighbourhood participation in programming
uses hardly exists anympre although the recreation wing, with its
olympic-size swimming pool and gymnasium, is frequented not only by the
community but by the entire city. The beautifully restored community
wing in the old school is only used by a few groups, regularly, and for
larger programs, occasionally. The major reasons seem to be severe
problems between the school and the central administration, on the one
hand, and lack of communication between the City and the Board of
Education on the other. Typical for the lack of communication between
the school and its central agency was the fact that the latter gave the
information that there were no full-time, professional community
co-ordinators in any of the Ann Arbor schools. In Mack, however, the
community co-ordinator has two masters degrees and works 40-60 hours per
week (being paid only part-time). He felt that more support, mainly in
financial terms, was needed to run the community part of the school
effectively. In contrast, the superintendent in the central administration
felt that community involvement and use of Mack's facilities was mainly
an organisational problem.
170. A number of positive facts remain: as a facility, Mack is outstanding
and, given the right combination of people, will probably flourish as
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