Intermediate School

This project began with an extensive study of the school community. Meetings and surveys were conducted to benchmark the educational delivery methods in place now and where they saw themselves 20 to 50 years into the future. They were also asked to consider how the facility itself helped or hindered that educational process.

The District took this opportunity to effect change in a positive and meaningful way, not only as a School District but as a community. The result was a commitment to change to a grade center model, clearing the slate for the District’s new educational paradigm. No stone was left unturned in the evaluation of the District’s facilities and exploration of the District’s new and evolving educational needs. This is a unique and exciting opportunity for everyone involved to really make a positive impact in the lives of the kids, help to shape the way in which they will be educated in school and how they will function as citizens of the larger community.

The new Cafetorium transforms from a lunchroom into a performance space large enough to fit one grade. It features acoustical baffles, a sound system, and performance lighting.
Views from the corridor not only showcase the focal point of the facility but put learners and learning on display
The new school is organized in “Nests.” Each Nest is home to 4 Classrooms, 2 breakout spaces, and one Large Learning Room. Multiple classes come together in the Large Learning Room for project work or to learn from outside experts. Here students are about to connect with an astronaut who is conducting an experiment with water on the space station.
Cues on the floors guide children to the nests, where the color dominates and makes it easy for students to orient themselves.

The outcome of this process led to the full renovation of an existing elementary school into a newly transformed learning environment serving the intermediate grade levels (second, third, fourth). The resulting spaces are designed to foster the 21st-century education principals of collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking.

The completely renovated new intermediate school is designed to support the unique learning processes of individual learners in a concert of spaces that meet the needs of varied learning styles and multiple intelligences.

Project spaces that support project-based learning are a feature of elementary school architecture throughout. Almost every large group learning room connects directly to a small group break-out space where focused work can be accomplished. The large group learning rooms also have adjacencies to an open project space where project-based learning can happen.

Teachers and students both have seamless access to technology, with moveable smartboards in the large group learning rooms and projectors they can broadcast to in the project spaces. Additionally, Magnetic Dry-Erase Walls and Tackable Surfaces promote opportunities to put learning on display and allow learning to happen anywhere.

Organic Shapes bring Nature Indoors: While the “Learning Trees of Knowledge” are a more literal demonstration of biomimicry (the imitation of systems or elements of nature), it is also conceptually reflected in the furniture, finishes, and the architecture.
Cues on the floors guide children to the nests, where the color dominates and makes it easy for students to orient themselves.
Blurring the Boundaries between Play and Learning: Children are engaged by the opportunity to move the class outdoors; the amphitheater is designed to foster active, hands-on learning in a real world setting, creating active and engaged life long learners.  An added bonus is the calming, de-escalating effect of exposure to nature while they learn.
Designed for 21st Century Learning: The now bright and airy Multimedia Center/Library is designed to inspire young learners with a variety of furniture that facilitates different learning modalities.

A key concern of the client was that the new elementary school architecture provide a safe, calm and de-escalating environment for all children. This was a natural fit for the design concept of biomimicry (the imitation of systems or elements of nature), which is employed throughout the interior design. The learning environment strives to incorporate a balance of all colors in the spectrum in order to meet the unique emotional and physiological needs of each student. Color is used as a tool for wayfinding as well as an indicator for destination. 5 learning nests, a playful term in response to their cardinal mascot for a cluster of learning spaces that support small and large group collaboration, are each identified by a specific color and provide a sense of ownership to the different constituents of the school. Community spaces (ie Media Center, Cafeteria) are spaces that incorporate all learning nest colors.

Flexible furniture and soft seating allow learning environments to quickly adapt to accommodate different learning styles and to transform a space to meet the needs of learners of all ages.

The green and sustainable elementary school architecture incorporates natural light and views for all learning spaces. In addition, connection to the outdoor environment (man-made and natural) and transparency to the community are a magnet for neighborhood families seeking an education setting that supports and inspires learning in the 21st Century. An outdoor amphitheater located adjacent to the new Cafeteria space becomes an extension of the indoor learning environments. Project spaces, a key element of the learning nest to support project-based learning, feature high ceilings and an abundance of natural light. Motion-sensing LED lighting is used throughout.

Learning becomes Multi-sensory: Traditional classroom teaching uses textbooks or lectures as instructional tools. The Amphitheater adds to this by exposing students through direct experience to nature areas and demonstration models such as the soon-to-be installed sundial.
A key concern of the client was that the new school provide a safe, calm and de-escalating environment for all children. This was a natural fit for the design concept of biomimicry (the imitation of systems or elements of nature), which is employed throughout the interior design. The Multimedia Center/Library with “Learning Trees of Knowledge” is the hub of all the “Nests” that radiate from it.
Interesting Spaces to Engage Learners: One of the teaching strategies the instructors requested for their space was the opportunity to keep the situation interesting through “ad hoc” learning. To facilitate this and allow many opportunities to change the environment, a variety of furniture was provided, including unique, flexible and soft seating.
Designed for 21st Century Learning: The now bright and airy Multimedia Center/Library is designed to inspire young learners with a variety of furniture that facilitates different learning modalities.
The outdoor amphitheater is one of many forums in the space for student presentations. It facilitates peer-to-peer learning as students demonstrate knowledge and skills. It is sized to fit about half the students in the school in one seating.
Color as a Learning Tool: Children often sort and group objects by color; it’s easy to differentiate and remember. As such, the Nests are identified by color and each of these colors are used as a wayfinding device through the building. Cues on the floors guide children to the nests, where the color dominates and makes it easy for students to orient themselves.
Connecting to the Community: The playful pattern in the windows ties the school community to the larger community. Abstractly representing the keys on a piano keyboard, they are a teaching tool about the history of the community, which was home to a piano manufacturer for many years.

Related Works

Other stunning projects for our amazing clients

Future-Ready and Net Zero STEM Spaces
Revitalizing Creativity: Culinary and Fashion Interior Renovations to Empower Next-Gen Innovators
Developing Career Skills in a Future-Ready Learning Environment
Ignite Creativity with a Student-Centric Approach to Design Thinking
New Elementary School Designed for Anywhere, Anytime Learning
Master Facilities Plan to Guide Innovative 21st-century Upgrades
New Elementary School designed to make learning more flexible
New Early Learning Center is Child-Centered, Nature-Inspired, and Energy Efficient
Changes at Nearly 100 Year Old High School Create a 21st Century Education Environment
New Nature-Inspired Playground
Addition provides much needed space for vibrant Fine Arts programs
Making a Middle School
Reimagined Learning Spaces
Putting the Cool in Culinary Arts
Fieldhouse Rises from the Rubble
Transforming an Existing High School for Today’s Learners
Long-Range Plan at Homewood-Flossmoor Community High School
Classrooms Tailored to Next Generation Science Curriculum
Expansion Yields Limitless Possibilities for Performing Arts
Student Focused Renovations
Share Our Work