When Palisades Charter Elementary School Principal Tami Weiser was told that her school was slated for both interior and exterior painting, she panicked at picking the colors–but only for a minute. She called a parent, Eva Sobesky, who had a first grader at the school, and asked for help. Sobesky, a Palisades resident, happens to be an award-winning architect and has her own firm, EIS Architects in Venice. She in turn enlisted another first grade parent, Helena Berge, who just happens to work at her firm, to help her with the project. Palisades Elementary was told by LAUSD officials that the palate for both exterior and interior buildings was limited to 15 colors, but the school could pick the colors, which isn’t always the case with LAUSD schools. Having Sobesky as a volunteer consultant had to help. Sobesky and Berge began by taking photos of each building on campus and then used PhotoShop to “paint” each of them in potential colors. Originally, Sobesky thought that white might help the children focus better, but found to her surprise that research showed just the opposite: vibrant colors affect children in very positive ways. It helps them think and focus, especially elementary-aged children. Yellow has a positive effect on children’s psyche. Another issue facing Sobesky and Berge was having beautiful 1931 original buildings juxtaposed with classroom bungalows that aren’t so beautiful. How do you unite them and make the campus look like it’s one entitiy? Sobesky approached the interior courtyard as if it were a Mexican or European piazza. She told Weiser, “The courtyard is the soul of the school and the colors should reflect that.” So the two architects chose bold colors, like zippy gold, orange spice and bittersweet. They joked that if it didn’t turn out, they would have to move to another elementary school. After Sobesky and Weiser had colored in each of the buildings on paper, they made a booklet with the color choices and presented them to LAUSD officials. In subsequent meetings, they explained why they had made the choices they did. For example, they chose a strong color for the auditorium–“deluxe,” a bright orange yellow, almost pumpkin. They felt that since special events such as graduations, assemblies and student performances occur at that site, the auditorium should stand out. In addition, they wanted people passing by to have a hint of the magnificent colors that grace the courtyard. After school began and the buildings were all freshly painted, Weiser told the Palisadian-Post: “The energy level has been so positive on the yard. The bright colors are putting out a good feeling.”
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