HMFH Architects

This new three-story school relieves extreme overcrowding in Wakefield’s elementary schools. It replaces an older school building that had not been used as an elementary school for several years and was inadequate for current educational programs.

The simple L-shaped plan includes 22 classrooms and smaller breakout and resource rooms on three floors along an academic corridor. More public spaces and large-group, “noisy” activities are clustered in the public wing, with the cafeteria, music room and gymnasium on the first floor, science and art on the second floor, and the media center on the third floor.

The design of the new Woodville School contains references to the building it replaced, including the library reading area, which replicates the old school’s façade. The extensive wetlands on the site dictated that the school be three stories in elevation and that it sit on a plateau. Carefully designed site walls and ramps allow access to playfields located down a steep slope behind the school.