e classroom are down. People of out of their culture-trances and an environment. The interor of information exchange in :ural communities also prevails. n classroom, the modern center ~ctronics which facilitate the nforn;Jation. At some point on nters Ire just ten minutes away hor~ood. barns were raised, people used similar cooperative skills to build centers which would be gathering places for the entire communitysometimes in churches, town squares, granges and lodges. A broad range of activities from civic events to quilting and gossiping were held way to work with floors is to make them part of an overall scheme. Ugly brown-colored floors at EEC couldn't be painted, but stimulated the idea for a tree room, in which floors could be viewed as loving earth brown. 4. Walls. Overhead projectors can blow up pictures to paint. The idea of epics and journeys can be adapted to the history of a group through collective mural paintings like those done by Ikie Kressel and volunteers in Portland's Neighborhood Beautification Project. 5. Maps. Regional maps which identify people in an information net can provide inspiration for linking people and ideas. Several kinds of maps-road maps, topographical and cultural maps-provide an integrated sense of place. Keeping plenty of butcher paper around is essential to encouraging maps of ideas-in-process. All in all, mapsperhaps because they give us some perspective on ourselves -are a very satisfying thing. 6. Special areas. Parkrose United Methodist Church in Portland has a room called by the American Indian name Kiva (meaning a place of worship). The room is a private, special kind of sanctuary where people can take their shoes . off and sit on multi-levels of carpeted space, making physical space adapt to their psychological needs. At the Living Learning Center at the University of Oregon in Eugene, a special grants-writing room for funding activities features wall-shelves with resources labeled shelfby-shelf, and allows proposal writers to work without the disturbances of other areas of the center. 7. Plants. Plants are being used more and more in every environment. Ivy grows well almost anywhere, as do philodendrons and elephant's ear; plant some ivy in an old sink or in an unused coke machine. ~~~-. .,;;;;;;•a. 8. Storage. Roberta Caughlan, at Cleveland High School's to the Environmental Education Center range from the usual "Far out!" "Can I climb it?" "What's that made from?" "How did those get here?" to the most crypticfrom a local reporter-"Well, isn't this quasi-bizarre." If a center feels good to people, ~ore learning will take place. Just about everything in a center should be malleable though not breakable, intriguing but not fragile, and attractive but not untouchable. If barn-raising techniques are used, costs can be low. Some initial suggestions, gleaned from other centers: 1. Brainstorm design. Don't exclude the most impossible-sounding ideas. In the case of the Parkrose Methodist Church, brainstorming sessions produced ideas like "Let's build a swimming pool with roll-top turf that could be used as a lawn-carpeting for other occasions." It was partly due to the wild range of ideas which came out during brainstorming sessions that good, feasible, but innovative and creative ideas developed. 2. Seating. Should be durable and flexible. Buy Goodwill hardbacks. Try a sew-in: many brightly colored cushions can be produced in the barn raising fashion. Gunny sacks cover squares of foam rubber (from packing plants) and sturdy two-way adhesive tape can be used sparingly to provide backs for floor chairs. 3. Straw rugs. They're an inexpensive, ' nature-colored, fairly soil-resistant floor covering. Another Eco-Aesthetics center, inherited part of an old school library and came up with one of the most innovative storage ideas, as a result of lack of built-in-space. Files and other materials are stored in boxes-color toned to the scheme of the room-and put in plain sight, stacked in geometrically interesting patterns, one on top of another. Files are numbered plainly and can be picked out without disturbing the large part of the box sculpture. Most important, a center's aesthetic design should respond to the users' needs and reflect their vision. This can only be accomplished through people-participation in the building of a center. V. ADHOCRATIZING Alvin Toffler has pointed out that we are moving from a bureaucratic society to one that proceeds by adhocracies. The day when the park is organized for the convenience of the groundskeeper, the library for the convenience of the librarian and the school for the convenience of the educators is about to end. People should be enticed to make choices on their own, with staff available for consultation in amplifying the meaning of their choices. Typewriter, phone and office supplies can be made available to facilitate this process. Adhocracies are particularly successful when they allow the coexistence of varying points of view.
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