Coming back from a lengthy winter break, students encountered caution tape planted outside HS20 with construction work finishing up inside. Unveiled this week, the classroom was no longer cold and dark.
The newly renovated room looks neat and clean. Mr Sanjeev Puri, the school’s chief operating officer, gave students a tour of the space, emphasizing its essence through its representation of Woodstock’s heritage via its natural wood makeup both on the ceiling and trim.
Puri said he wanted the room to look modern but clean. The classroom is not vivid: the subtle colors were painted as he believes that students are the “ones adding color to the class” through clothes and books.
The project initially emerged in July 2018 with everybody’s preferences in mind. The group who planned it included Board members, designers, teachers, and even students (who were, according to Mr. Puri, the most important as they are the ones who sit in the classrooms). The project as a whole had a cumulative cost of six million rupees, which also included two classrooms in the Quad (QS23 and QS24).
The expenses are justified.
One outstanding feature added to HS20 was the tiled floor’s heating system, replacing ancient bukharis. The system boils water under the floor, and basic physics (such as latency of water and the rising of hot air) do the magic of warming the room. Electric heaters would be unreliable, Mr Puri said, as outages cause the heat to stop, unlike the water, which can remain hot for very long.
Identifying a problem in the old classroom projectors, an ultrashort projector worth 250,000 rupees was also added to the mix. The old projectors throw light straight at the board, causing it to reflect back, making the projection incomprehensible. The new technology overcomes this by emitting light vertically on the board, making the view on the board same from every angle.
Surprisingly, these two features are not even the most expensive ones in the room. That honor was given to the windows: the double-glazed, toughened import from Germany was a necessary addition because, alongside doing its job as a vacuum wall to prevent transfer heat in and out of the room, it enhances the style which was being portrayed with simple, classic look with a touch of green.
The project is seen as a trial with expectations of failure and dissatisfaction to a certain degree. Based on feedback in the coming months, five more classrooms in the high school building will be renovated accordingly. The idea for a central boiler for all those classrooms is being considered as it would significantly cut the budget.
However, Mr. Puri said, further work is only going to happen after feedback from the community and the will of the Board of Directors.
Abiral Lamsal is a staff reporter
Edited by Dhrubhagat Singh
Photo by Knema Garnder
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