Elementary school brochure

BEDROOM 107 SF LIVING / DINING 139 SF

Elementary School Projects CL. 8 SF

REF.

Current and recent CL. school elementary 10 SFand design: planning

KITCHEN The unguarded, exuberant character of young children gives104 elementary SF schools a cherished place in the social fabric of the communities they serve.

ENTRY

Pre-K–8 School, RSU#39 Caribou, ME

94 SF

Designing an elementary school is a tremendous opportunity for a community and an architect to create a simple, functional building that is protective and state-of-the-art, yet encourages discovery and invention.

We are constantly trying to break down large schools to make them more like a series of interconnected small homes.

CL.

New Elementary 4 SF School

TLT. 54 SF

Brunswick, ME

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

PDT Architects

Great Falls Elementary School GORHAM, MAINE

New construction on a new site 84,000 sf Grades pre-K–5, 550 students Consolidation of 2 schools Completed 2011 After a three-year search, the Building Committee located a rural site that would provide for town water and sewer and underground voice/data utilities. The 23.5-acre parcel is historic farmland adjacent to protected conservation land. The school design responds to view corridors, solar orientation, and an existing residential neighborhood.

The academic classroom wing separates the student population into five small learning communities, three on the first floor and two on the second. The learning communities are oriented around the school library, which has access to a wide outdoor courtyard.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

PDT Architects

The school library and the pre-k/kindergarten classrooms form the heart of the academic learning communities. Each learning community has its own “educational commons” for exploratory projects related to science, ecology, and the arts.

The building consciously maximizes northern and southern orientation for daylight harvesting for all classroom areas. This high-performance school incorporates automatic daylighting controls, geothermal ground source heat pumps, solar hot water vacuum tubes for domestic hot water, CO2 on-demand ventilation, and a high-performance building envelope with air barrier system and extra insulation.

The community’s desire for a building with extensive pitched roofs gave us large attic mezzanines, so all mechanical equipment was brought indoors, where it is protected from the weather and reduces noise transmission.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

PDT Architects

Harriet Beecher Stowe Elementary School BRUNSWICK, MAINE

New construction on an in-town site 97,000 sf Grades 3-5, 600 students Completed 2011 LEED for Schools Certified Stowe Elementary School is located in the heart of Brunswick in an older residential neighborhood where many students can walk to school. Architectural elements from the old Art Deco high school that had stood on the site were salvaged and reused.

At 13 acres, the site is modest and long, which resulted in a “linear village” of 5 connected sections, each with a distinctive spatial “break” and orientation to the street. The linear village starts to the east at Spring Street with a single-story library and fine arts wing with low-pitched roofs surrounded by mature oak trees and a pedestrian-friendly relationship to the quiet street.

Each of the five sections has a distinct use, yet harmonizes with the whole through shared materials and colors. The building runs from east to west, so all classrooms and major spaces receive natural daylighting, and views to the neighborhood are emphasized.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

PDT Architects

Particular attention was paid to the design of the classrooms, where every room has access to a shared tutorial small group room (see below, orange stools). Coats and boots stay in lockers in the hallway while large knapsacks are hung on pegs in the classroom. Classroom storage was maximized with tall shelving units, counters, and locked cabinet wardrobes.

The entire school is heated and air conditioned by a closed-loop geothermal system with an expected 8-year payback.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

PDT Architects

Camden-Rockport Elementary School MSAD #28 ROCKPORT, MAINE

Addition 67,000 sf to existing 17,000-sf building Grades pre-K–4, 500 students Consolidation of 2 schools Completed 2009 Located on a tight 14-acre site off Route 90 in rural Rockport, Camden-Rockport Elementary School more than triples the existing former Montessori School, providing new instructional spaces, expanded play areas, and improved site circulation.

This new school boasts numerous sustainable initiatives, including on-demand ventilation, CO2 monitors, a high-performance exterior envelope, daylighting, daylight harvesting, geothermal heating, radiant floors, an enthalpic heat recovery system, and a palette of low VOC (volatile organic compounds) sustainable finishes.

In order to maximize the amount of available outdoor play area for the students, the new design allows the school to add another floor without expanding the footprint.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

PDT Architects

Camden-Rockport’s cafeteria, with its clerestory windows, easily converts to an auditorium. The photo above shows the proscenium open to the cafeteria and the back wall closed. The folding back wall opens into the gymnasium.

The entrance lobby, the crossroads of the school, coordinates five entrances in a lively, light-filled space that doubles as an art gallery and event space. Working with Youth Arts, the school has built a permanent hanging sculpture project called FishE.S. Each grade worked with a different artist, medium, and color palette, and each student contributed a fish to this multi-media project.

“MSAD #28 is absolutely thrilled with the new CamdenRockport Elementary School. . . .The staff is overjoyed at having all of our K-4 students and programs under one roof.

Perhaps the most gratifying aspect of the new building is that our students are now experiencing a first-rate education in an equally first-rate facility.

You can be proud that your design helped to create an extraordinary new school that will be appreciated by the entire Camden-Rockport community for many years to come.”

—Patricia Hopkins, Superintendent of Schools

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

PDT Architects

Dirigo Elementary School MSAD #21 PERU, MAINE

New construction on a new site 60,000 sf Grades pre-K–5, 380 students Consolidation of 4 schools Completed 2008 Four towns with aging elementary schools came together to build a centrally located elementary school with community facilities and playfields. The site is a wooded hillside on the border between two towns.

This energy-efficient school has a tight thermal envelope and heat exchangers to draw in fresh air. Solar panels on the roof pre-heat the hot water in the building, and an array of photovoltaic cells offsets electrical consumption. An educational display inside the building monitors the output of the photovoltaics.

Skylights and second-floor glazing in the double-height library draw light from outside and help flood interior corridors with natural light. All classrooms have easy acccess to the library, which has a built-in storytelling corner.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

PDT Architects

The economical design of the public spaces, with a stage opening on one side to the cafeteria and on the other to the gym, provides flexibility for performances and school assemblies. A folding panel system on the gym side deflects basketballs and ensures sound insulation. Full curtains on both sides provide a real proscenium and backdrop either way the stage is used.

Classroom design takes advantage of natural daylighting as much as possible and uses artificial lighting controls that monitor and automatically adjust the amount of electric light necessary to maintain optimum levels.

Each classroom contains extensive built-in shelving along an outside wall. On the teaching wall, a state-of-the-art interactive laptop projection system called a SMART board allows the teacher to project images with specialized software.

Similar to a touch-screen at a store, the board senses touch, drawing, or writing and sends the information back to the computer, which can then return feedback (good answer!) or record the new information. Students can respond to questions, choose from a group of possible answers, work on a drawing, do a math problem, or write a story that can be retrieved later.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

PDT Architects

Old Town Elementary School OLD TOWN, MAINE

New construction on a new site 90,000 sf Grades K-5, 600 students Consolidation of 4 schools Completed 2003 Faced with the need for considerable health and safety upgrades at four old elementary schools, Old Town chose to build a new K-5 school to accommodate anticipated enrollment growth.

Collaboration between the town, the University of Maine, and the State Planning Office resulted in the acquisition of an 18-acre site adjacent to a shopping center and new YMCA. An existing bike path connects the Y and the new school to the middle school and forms a natural boundary with the university.

Site development includes parking, a bus loop, play areas, baseball and softball fields, and three multipurpose playfields.

Daylighting techniques incorporated into the design reduce the use of artificial light and minimize heating and cooling costs Children attending the new school enter through a light-filled lobby that separates the public side of the school from the selfcontained classroom block.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

PDT Architects

Each student belongs to one of four multi-age “houses,� so that their primary social grouping remains the same size as it was in the smaller schools. The next larger level of social interaction is represented by the core of shared spaces for the library, art and music instruction, and special services.

On weekends or after hours, the community areas of the school open while the classroom block remains secure. The community has access to the gymnasium and locker rooms, and to the stage, which opens either to the gym or to the cafeteria. For musical performances, the band room is directly connected to the stage.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

PDT Architects

Stevens Brook Elementary School BRIDGTON, MAINE

Renovation and additions 41,000 sf to existing 18,600-sf building Grades K-6, 400 students Completed 2000 The Stevens Brook project is a complete rehab of a 1950s elementary school that had been closed by the state for unhealthy indoor air quality.

Additions more than doubled the size of the building, all mechanical and electrical systems were replaced, and an energy recovery system was added.

Moisture problems dictated the replacement of the floor slab, the regrading of the site, and the provision of vapor barriers.

Organized in three houses clustered around a garden courtyard, the school features double classrooms with operable folding partitions that enable team teaching.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

PDT Architects

This community makes extensive use of the school building after school and on weekends, so the building is designed so that public areas can be securely isolated from the rest of the building when school is not in session.

The new main entrance opens into the daylit multi-purpose space (above), a combined gymnasium, cafeteria, and performance space with a stage and movable, stackable furnishings. A residential-scale kitchen also opens onto this space for smaller community events and class demonstrations.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

PDT Architects

Skillin Elementary School SOUTH PORTLAND, MAINE

Renovation and additions 47,000 sf Grades K-5, 475 students Completed 1990 This school addition quadruples the size of a small seven-room school to nineteen classrooms that accomodate 475 pupils. A major challenge of the project was to maintain the image of the small neighborhood school nestled in a park-like but small site with mature trees.

The resulting plan is a nearly ideal elementary school: the central library is surrounded by classrooms; the administration is near the classrooms but controls the front door; and the gymnasium, cafeteria, stage, and music room can be separated from the rest of the building for community use.

The corners of the two-story library have been made into triangular spaces used as reading lofts, storytelling areas, and project studios.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

PDT Architects

All classrooms are on the perimeter of the “racetrack” hallway that circumnavigates the library. The inner wall of the racetrack is lined with continuous gallery tackstrips for student work, large and small discovery windows, and quiet alcoves. The floor and wall surfaces alternate in color and texture to make an experience of opposites: quiet and loud, light and dark, hard and soft.

Students enter the racetrack through the “celestial heavens” rotunda, where they can gather at the sidewall benches. Skylights punctuate the interior hallways and all interior offices and classrooms.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

PDT Architects

Sea Road Elementary School KENNEBUNK, MAINE

New construction 55,000 sf Grades 4-5, 400 students Completed 1987 Community planning input early in the design process revealed local preferences that were incorporated into the design. Few elementary schools feature science labs; the one at Sea Road was provided in response to local support.

Local residents also expressed concern that the school harmonize with the predominant style of other buildings in Kennebunk and Kennebunkport. Set back from the road on a wooded site, the school reflects the architecture of the two towns, with its brick facade, steeply pitched shingled roofs, and delicate white arcade and fence.

Sea Road circulates around the library, which is located at the center of four “pods� and is visible from the central circulation staircase. The classroom block and the administration/art/ cafeteria/gymnasium block are interconnected by a ring corridor, which partially fronts on the enclosed courtyard. A flexible performance space was provided inexpensively by locating the stage behind folding acoustical walls that can open either to the cafeteria or the gymnasium.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

PDT Architects

Cape Cod Hill School NEW SHARON/VIENNA, MAINE

New construction 31,880 sf Grades K-6, 350 students Completed 1991 This 350-student school was designed to maximize functional use on a difficult wetlands-filled site and to reflect local architectural values. The architects managed the patchwork of linked wetland areas by carefully locating and shaping the building, bus drop-off and parking, playfields, well, and septic systems.

The building design reflects and expresses traditional Farmington-area architecture, with pitched roofs and a cupolacapped student entry portico.

The building planning centers around the library. Flexible specialty spaces include a cafeteria/gymnasium and a stage/bandroom.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

PDT Architects

Lincoln Elementary School AUGUSTA, MAINE

New construction 36,000 sf Grades K-5, 350 students Completed 1988 The profile of this community school harmonizes with the pitched roofs in its established turn-of-the-century neighborhood.

The site was initially two pieces separated by a city street. PDT developed a site plan that located the building at the extreme end of the site and closed off a portion of the street, creating a park of almost a full city block.

A two-story classroom wing centers around a library and a combination entry/ cafeteria/ gymnasium lobby.

The cafeteria doubles as a community meeting room and is highly visible, particularly at night, through a generous glass wall. The cafeteria features a large light monitor with windows marking points on the compass.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

PDT Architects

Farrington Elementary School AUGUSTA, MAINE

New construction 47,000 sf Grades K-5, 525 students Completed 1988 This 525-student elementary school is located on a flat site along a commercial strip. To maintain its identity in competition with its non-institutional neighbors, it was designed to read “elementary school” for cars traveling at 40 mph. Bright colors and cube-like elements on the façade shout “students are inside.”

The school was designed in an ideal plan: two stories of classrooms surround a double-height media center. Expansion for additional classrooms is provided within the plan, which will maintain the spatial importance of the media center.

To save space, the cafeteria doubles as the lobby for the gymnasium, which becomes an auditorium when the adjacent stage is opened. Community groups are invited to use the auditorium and the gymnasium, which were designed for use by people of all ages. Lockers are provided for student and community use.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

PDT Architects

Windham Primary School WINDHAM, MAINE

New construction 93,000 sf Grades K-3, 1,000 students Completed 1987 At the time that it was built, the Windham Primary School was, to our knowledge, the largest purpose-built single building primary school in the United States. With 1,000 students, it could have been overwhelming for 4–8-year-olds.

The qualities of a small neighborhood school were retained by organizing the building into “houses,” each with 330 students who stay in the same house all four years and its own rooms for special education, reading, teachers, and student resources. Each house has its own bus drop-off and student entry, stairs, elevator, exterior courtyard, and central mechanical system. Classrooms are separated by operable walls to allow for paired team teaching, and the entire building is barrier-free, with ramps on the mall corridor and barrier-free sinks and toilets.

The three houses share the interior main street/mall, which links common facilities for the arts, computing, and physical education, the cafeteria, and the administration. Islands of trees and ledge outcroppings along the front drive and bus loading zone break views of the size and length of the building.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

PDT Architects

BEDROOM 107 SF LIVING / DINING 139 SF

CL. 8 SF REF.

CL. 10 SF KITCHEN 104 SF ENTRY 94 SF

CL. 4 SF TLT. 54 SF

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

PDT Architects