HMFH Architects

This team-oriented middle school uses an efficient plan to organize each grade into teams that share four classrooms and a central science room. There are two teams per floor and each floor houses one grade. Across the hall from each cluster are team and resource rooms, and specialized teaching spaces such as computer and language labs. The clusters are arranged to give students a home base that can be reached without “trespassing” through another cluster.

Art, music, library, and technology areas are at the heart of the school. The gym and cafetorium occupy the front of the school and are designed to be used after hours when the rest of the building is closed. The delightful surprise of transparency is used throughout the school to connect the shared spaces. From the third floor corridor, for example, students can look down into the band room, and through that, down into the gym on the ground floor. Extensive ball fields and green space (shared with a K-8 complex designed by HMFH as well) complete the 43-acre, riverfront site and serve the community when school is not in session.