St. Francis of Assisi Middle School

Narratives

Architect Narrative

Several unique features have been incorporated into the schematic design of the facility that will encourage long-term growth, collaborative middle-school learning, team teaching and greater community integration into a sustainable school environment.
Overall site planning has accommodated the future growth of the facility, allowing for three additional phases on on-site development to expand from an initial capacity of 465 students to a final capacity of 685 students. A municipally-funded community shelter is attached to the school and will promote increased community and after-hours use.
Design has also focused on the following five areas integral to a balanced learning environment:
- Celebration and social space, encouraging social development and a strong focus on Catholic values;
- Innovative teaching areas, which provide flexible and collaborative learning environments to support a middle-school educational approach
- Community access, encouraging community interaction within the school environment;
- Integration of technology, providing a variety of learning environments to enhance educational delivery
- Integration of fine arts programming with core curriculum to provide a balanced educational approach.

The school design focuses on energy efficiency (achieving an estimated 40% energy saving compared to standard school construction), offers enhanced environmental education opportunities and features state-of the-art building systems.
Throughout the design process, 6 key objectives shaped the design of this facility.

1. To develop an educational facility that harmoniously promotes and reinforces Catholicity in education and the relationship between school, parish and home.
2. To provide a safe and caring school that encourages collaboration at all levels and fosters skills critical to life-long learning.
3. To expand the school community to include the community of the school.
4. To create a variety of flexible learning environments that accommodate changes in teaching and learning approaches and technology integration.
5. To encourage balance within the school curriculum by creating spaces that allow a multi-faceted curriculum
6. To create a sustainable, accessible, and healthy learning environment for all users of the facility

These design objectives were met by the following design approaches within the facility:

1. The development of celebration and social space, encouraging social development and a strong focus on Catholic values. Centralized gathering and breakout spaces will be included in the facility to encourage social interaction among peers and peer groups, offer flexible space for instruction and other activities such as closed-campus lunches, performances, and presentations. Such spaces will be easily supervisable from the administration centre, teacher prep areas, and classrooms adjacent to breakout areas. A chapel, located in the centralized gathering space, will act as the metaphorical and physical support of the roof, heightening the focus on the chapel as the heart of the school.

2. The development of multi-purpose, innovative teaching areas, which provide flexible and collaborative learning environments to support a middle-school educational approach. A classroom pod concept was developed to include classrooms (with the opportunity to team-teach), a wet lab area, breakout space, teacher preparation areas and dedicated pod storage organized in groupings throughout the facility. Teacher desks were removed from the classrooms and moved into teacher preparation areas, encouraging collaboration between teachers within grades and subject areas. These pods will also evolve as the building grows in size.

3. The inclusion of community access areas, encouraging community interaction within the school environment. A municipally-funded community shelter is included in the facility and provides an additional flexible space to the school when not in use by members of the community. After hours access will allow staged access to different spaces as the need arises.

4. The integration of technology and technology-based areas, providing a variety of learning environments to enhance educational delivery. Of prime importance in the design of the facility was access to computer technology in configurations that supported a variety of instructional delivery methods. Such flexibility allows the adaptation of technology to fit changes to how students and teachers are learning and using computers for education. To provide for this flexibility, a combination of computer labs, career and technology (CTS) labs, classrooms, breakout spaces, teacher prep areas and other spaces will be provided with wiring and the ability to integrate computer technology. Computer millwork will initially be concentrated within labs, breakout spaces and teacher prep areas but be flexible enough to relocate within the facility. A computer-based media studies facility including a visual communications studio is also included as part of the design, complimenting other CTS programs offered within the jurisdiction and the fine arts facilities located within the school. A foods and fashions studio is also included as part of the CTS programming.

5. The integration of spaces for fine arts programming with those for core curriculum to provide a balanced educational approach. Flexible, multipurpose rooms will be included in the facility to offer performance and visual arts spaces for students and a variety of programming opportunities for curriculum planners. These include: a band/drama room with adjacent storage areas; an ancillary room opening onto the gathering space for performances and connected to an adjacent classroom to act as a “backstage” area; a visual communications studio as part of the CTS media studies centre; and an arts lab that will also serve as a wet lab for a future portable addition.

6. The integration of environmental technologies and environmental design as part of the overall design approach. Indoor air quality and energy efficiency concerns have impacted the schematic design of interior finishes and mechanical systems for the facility, which will include a fan-coil system with ducted return air, and a closed groundwater cooling loop to temper the fresh air intake. Daylighting has impacted the orientation of classrooms, windows and the integration of light-shelves in occupied spaces. Additional systems, such as a small wind-generation unit and photovoltaic cells, will be funded from outside agencies and integrated at a demonstration level into the building. Each of these systems for the building will be monitored and data fed into an accessible display for students prominently located in the central gathering space, as well as integrated into the curriculum.