Endcap

The Multi-Purpose Room at the new Annie Wright Upper School for Boys features a timberframed operable glass wall. It helps create a multifunctional space that can serve as a lounge area for students or additional teaching and testing space.

Operable Partition Walls are the Hottest Design Trend for Schools

Using movable walls to break up spaces, add privacy, and reduce the exchange of germs is on the rise nationwide. Operable glass partitions and unique markerboard walls are particularly popular in school design. For the Annie Wright School in Tacoma, Washington, spaces in a new academic building include both.

Design insights

“As project designer and architect, I had the dual role of both envisioning the spaces and finding the technical solutions,” says Nathaniel Smith, an associate at Mithun architects, with offices in Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

“For the classroom, we needed an operable partition with an STC rating [sound transmission class] comparable to a solid wall, so students would not be distracted when the room was split in two,” he explains. “Products from Hufcor (continued on page 29)

For a large classroom, space can easily be divided with paired panel partitions featuring whiteboard marker walls from floor-to-ceiling on both sides.