SKILD Elementary
​School

Beirut - Lebanon
LSESD requested IDD’s assistance to help with planning and design of a new elementary school with a focus on students with special needs.  This type of school is new to Lebanon and the Middle East, so there are not design professionals with experience in designing the education and recreation facilities with special consideration given to the unique requirements of special needs students.  IDD brought a team of designers to Beirut, Lebanon including two designers with prior experience in the design of facilities for special needs children.
The aim of the SKILD Elementary School is to provide a leading model of special needs education and integration in Lebanon as a continuation of the work begun at the SKILD center and the Beirut Baptist School (a K-12 private school also affiliated with LSESD), therefore it was designed to be accessible to both special needs and mainstream children.  This will provide an example of how both groups can interact and cooperate in the same environment, as opposed to being separated according to the cultural norms.  The school will provide an affordable option for special needs students to access high quality education, taught by specialized educators, in a physical environment intentionally designed to maximize their learning potential.  The school will also be a place where special needs teachers, educators, and therapists can receive training.  The goal of the school is to accommodate approximately 400 students upon completion.
To achieve these goals, the school is designed as a series of pods, with one pod of three classrooms dedicated for each grade level.  Each pod contains separate classrooms that can be occupied by one or both of the student categories (special needs and mainstream).  The pods also contain a communal space for eating and engaging in different activities in which all the students can join.

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