Cherry Park Elementary School

Cherry Park Elementary School of Language Immersion is a roughly 72,000-square-foot K-3 addition to Sullivan Middle School located in Rock Hill, SC. The new school currently houses 625 students and has a 1,000-student core capacity. This school is the result of a consolidation of three language immersion programs within Rock Hill Schools. Merging these programs at a central location allows the school district to provide a cohesive language immersion program that fosters bilingualism, biliteracy, and bicultural awareness from an early age. This unique program led to the development of open, collaborative spaces outside of classrooms where teachers can instruct their classes jointly or facilitate small group work.

Because the students of Cherry Park split their time between two languages, classrooms are arranged in pairs, sharing a common door. While one class is learning in English, the neighboring class might be learning math in French. The connection between classrooms allows the program's teachers to move easily between the spaces as the classes transition between languages. This design concept allows instructors to take their students out of the traditional classroom setting for collaborative learning.

Flexible furniture throughout the school may be arranged and rearranged as needed, and the facility's spaces were designed to support a variety of configurations. The ability to immediately adapt the space to suit instructional needs enhances learning and engagement for students.

The design team worked to utilize natural daylight so occupants would not have to rely on artificial lighting. Daylighting and occupancy sensors were installed, and 50 percent of the school’s floor area meets LEEDv4 targets for daylight autonomy. Mechanical and electrical systems were designed to cut energy usage by over 1.5 million kBtu annually, equating to over $40,000 in savings. The water-efficient plumbing fixtures installed are expected to cut water usage by over 200,000 gallons every year. This was the district’s first LEED project, and the outcome has set the bar for future schools in the area.

The Cherry Park Elementary School photographer was Peter Brentlinger.