Introduction ― 4 Selected Projects ― 8
Front Cover and Left: Belmont Middle and High School, Town of Belmont, Belmont, Massachusetts
Learning environments for the middle school years—a time when students are going through physical, intellectual, emotional, and social changes—requires thoughtful design. These facilities should provide a natural transition between the self-contained world of elementary school and the high school world that inspires both academic and personal exploration.
Research shows that when adolescents are engaged in their own learning, they are more likely to achieve at higher levels. Middle and junior high schools should promote engagement among students, placing a strong priority on collaboration, vision, and culture.
Client: Town of Belmont Size: 445,100 square feet
Completion Date: 2021 Sustainability: Targeting Net Zero Energy
Belmont, Massachusetts ― WHAT IT IS
A school that emphasizes handson learning and colocates students on one campus while encouraging multi-age learning.
To maintain separate identities of the middle and high school—in a single building—the design team developed separate entrances and pick-up/drop-off sequences.
We understand that settling into a new building can be both energizing and stressful for students.
At the new school, we invented a way for students to connect to their previous academic homes and take ownership of their new space.
At the school’s entry, we designed a series of hinged, perforated panels, which are home to ultra-high-resolution photographs of past student murals. As the school evolves and the students invent within the building, the perforated panels become a home for new traditions and a new venue for student creativity.
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Our interdisciplinary perspective helped the Belmont community take a holistic approach to establishing their vision.
San Marcos, Texas
Client: San Marcos Consolidated Independent School District
Size: 40,000 square feet
Completion Date: 2021
The renovation of a learning courtyard creates a quieter outdoor space that features a sensory garden for special education students.
The media center acts as the ‘hub’ of the campus, tying together the previously disconnected wings.
This dual-level media center features an open plan with large presentation areas and a makerspace.
By expanding diverse spaces and creating a dynamic media center, students now have places to relax, study, and socialize.
Fairbanks, Alaska
Client: Fairbanks North Star Borough School District
Size: 101,000 square feet (9,383 square meters)
Completion Date: 2016
Awards: 2017, Honor Award, AIA Alaska
The commons area is the heart of the school and is the focus of the students’ academic and social life.
From the commons, students have access to academic teams, the media center, and program resources.
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An office by the entry, creates a welcoming and secure checkpoint for visitors.
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Inspired by the beauty of nature within and around the Fairbanks area, Ryan brings elements of its extraordinary context into the design of the building.
Ryan Middle School
Ryan Middle School
― WHAT MAKES IT COOL Spaces provide rich opportunities for direct instruction, selfdirected projects, and academic tune-ups.
Client: Atlanta Public Schools
Size: 175,000 square feet (16,258 square meters)
Completion Date: 2016 Awards:
Merit Award: Renovation/Restoration Project, AIA Georgia, 2017
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King, Jr. Middle School
A transformative renovation, the entire project is a tool to energize and inspire the community. ←
Our design relocated the front door from the north side to the south side. →
A strategic brand effort uncovered a variety of targeted opportunities to engage students.
WHAT MAKES IT COOL
Upgrades to this Brutalist school bring much needed daylight to the interior while the new brand evokes a sense of pride.
Port Coquitlam, British Columbia
Client: School District No. 43 (Coquitlam)
Size: 60,062 square feet (5,580 square meters)
Completion Date: 2014
Sustainability: Canada NC v1.0 Gold Registered Awards:
Award of Merit, AIBC, Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia, 2015
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Bi-folding shutters protect the building from vandalism open to reveal warm timber columns.
Dalton, Georgia
Client: Whitfield County Schools
Size: 133,850 square feet (12,435 square meters) Completion Date: 2012
Awards:
2013 AIA Georgia American Institute of Architects, Georgia Association Merit Award - Institutional/Educational, (nonresidential)
This replacement school provides a variety of learning environments that encourage creativity and innovation in support of project-based learning.
Shared electives and project labs spill onto a centralized courtyard.
The program creates opportunities for indoor/ outdoor activities while also washing the interior with natural daylight.
Lake Forest, Illinois
Client: Lake Forest School District 67
Completion Date: 2020
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IS This renovation has transformed the science program spaces from claustrophobic and restrictive to open, inviting, collaborative and flexible.
Each of the labs can be combined into a single large space through the use of movable partitions.
Client: Dallas Independent School District
Size: 202,000 square feet (18,766 square meters)
Completion Date: 2012
Sustainability: CHPS Designed Awards:
People’s Choice Award, CEFPI Southern Region Conference, 2013 Project of the Year, Regional Hispanic Contractor Association, 2013
Featuring a split-level design, the middle level acts as the social heart of this community-focused school.
The building follows the natural topography slope of the land, reducing construction cost. It also reduces the building mass toward the residential neighborhood while consolidating play-fields to the south.
This sustainable facility offers teachers multiple ways to engage students; by floor, by grade, or by team.
Zan Wesley Holmes, Jr. Middle School
Kansas City, Missouri
Client: Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
Size: 46,000 square feet renovation; 160,000 square feet new (4,273 square meters renovation; 14,864 square meters new)
Completion Date: 2014
Awards: Schools of the 21st Century Publication Feature, Architectural Record, 2016 Missouri Charter School of the Year, Missouri Charter Public School Association, 2015 Capstone Award, Kansas City Business Journal, 2015
A transparent environment brings natural light to the interior and puts learning on display as you move through the building.
The team worked to ensure the school buildings would provide an environment conducive to student learning while fitting within the context of the site’s urban neighborhood.
Clockwise from Top Right:
Deer Path Middle School, Science Labs Renovation
Since 1935, we’ve believed that design has the power to make the world a better, more beautiful place.
That’s why clients and community members on nearly every continent partner with us to design healthy, happy places in which to live, learn, work, play, and heal. We’re passionate about human-centered design, and how design can impact our lives through sustainability, resilience, well-being, diversity and inclusion, and mobility. And we’re committed to advancing design through research. As a matter of fact, in 2018, Fast Company named us one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies in Architecture. Our team of 2,500 professionals provides worldwide interdisciplinary services in architecture, interior design, branded environments, urban design, landscape architecture, and more, and includes our partners Portland, Nelson\Nygaard, Genesis Planning, and Pierre-Yves Rochon (PYR).
For more information, contact: K12Education@perkinswill.com