Northwest Middle School

Narratives

Project Narrative

This facility was specifically designed to provide an innovative learning environment for the students of the Northwest Quadrant - an exciting and flexible design solution resulting from a lively collaboration of players including teachers, students, varied District staff, community members, and architects.

As visitors approach the building, they are greeted by etched glass panels welcoming them into the building in over 80 different languages. Inside, the building features four distinct color themes, one for each house, and a continuation of the dark red color utilized on the exterior in the common areas. The numbers of Pi, and the Fibonacci series highlight the bright Commons/Dining area of the school. Each student ‘house’ has not only its own color, but also an intriguing graphic logo based on the house name (Imagine, Explore, Create, Apply, and Inform), providing an additional layer of identity for students.

The school is a site-based management model, which allows the school principal, faculty and staff to make key decisions in the way the school is run, and in this case, designed. The building is a replacement school for a facility located nearby, and the committee not only included teachers from the existing facility, but parents and community members. The major challenge: to create a completely new, state-of-the-art educational facility that embraces the middle school teaming philosophy; an environment that enriches all that experience it; and an architecture that encourages and supports the practices and behaviors important to the success of a collaborative project-based curriculum.

This design committee group outlined the following specific challenges for the building:

* Support an integrated curriculum

* Encourage collaboration

* Create community

* Pique student interest

* Enhance educational space

* Incorporate durability & maintainability

The design committee also suggested that appealing to the aesthetics of the students. The architects were asked to “… create a facility so accommodating and appealing to young people that they can’t wait to come to school in the morning.” But one of the most critical committee imperatives was to buffer the 7th graders, students at the “turning point” of their lives, from the stress and fragmentation associated with the typical large junior high school experience.

The breakthrough to the final solution was the arrangement of the classrooms into three double-lobed academic learning centers, each surrounding a dual-use central collaboration space. This space provides a highly flexible and extremely transparent environment for student group collaboration, including daily access to mobile wireless computer labs. The ability to access technology in nearly every room encourages learning by discovery. Faculty planning offices are contained within each learning center. It was extremely important to the committee that the school design would be accommodating to a project-based curriculum, incorporating multiple, flexible group activity spaces. Within these areas, technology is infinitely and easily available to any student, faculty member, or visitor. The design also incorporates “color-coded” classroom wings which simultaneously break the student population into smaller groups, provide a sense of identity for students, and act as a navigation tool for visitors.

Educator Narrative

“As a representative of the community associated with the school, it has been my pleasure to be involved with the birth of this fabulous facility for our kids. The open, bright, inviting, comforting design is something we should all be proud of. It is obvious from this building that a lot of people, from the highest level of the district, the architects, the faculty and staff, and the community care very much that our children have the finest of facilities to do their best work. I am particularly impressed with the ‘housing’ design for each grade, I know this alleviates a considerable amount of stress on the kids, trying to rush from class to class as in most conventional school settings. I am very proud of this school and will always support our principal and staff to continue to make this Jr. High a worthy example for education at its finest.’
–School Community Council Chair

My feelings, as a teacher, about this building are nothing short of spectacular. I still feel awe-struck every time I enter the premise. The same feeling holds true with all others who come here. Without exception, all comments from both students and patrons of the community have been positive, edifying, and uplifting. The physical appearance of this building commands an aura of respect and acceptance, not only on the outside but also the inside as well. I am impressed with the way the housing concept for each grade level and the collaboration areas within each house that we planned are implemented. This concept alone provides ample flexibility for good teaching practices, for sharing space, and for teaming. In addition, I am pleased with the lighting. There is a brightness and openness in all areas. The areas are easily accessible and usable. The cafeteria area allows for multiple uses, from serving the daily meals and banquets to providing seating for informal presentations and other school activities. All in all, life here at our Junior High School is very good.
–Teacher