Winthrop Middle High School

The design of Winthrop’s new 970-student, 189,500-sf middle/high school fosters 21st-century, hands-on learning. The building contains two distinct zones for the middle and high school joined by shared core facilities including the gymnasium, library, kitchen and 580-seat auditorium. Specialty spaces include a 100-seat black box theater, vocational fabrication and carpentry space for the unique “Viking Long Ship” program, culinary arts café, state of the art science labs and a community pre-school program learning lab. At the building’s exterior, nautical design elements reference the seaside town’s character. While the project had originally targeted LEED Silver certification, an unexpected challenge created an opportunity to push the design’s sustainability goals even further. During the design process, FEMA had come out with new flood plain mapping that placed the site within the 100-year flood plain. The team decided to use the debris from the demolition of the existing concrete-framed high school to create a structural fill, which serves as a plinth for the new building to sit on. The new design raised the building above the flood plain while keeping 95 % of construction waste out of the waste stream, earning the project an Innovation in Design credit and contributing to its LEED Gold certification. Other design choices continue to improve the school’s energy use. Water efficient landscaping eliminates the need for an irrigation system, and combined with low flow fixtures, reduces water use by over 35%. Electricity usage is minimized using natural light and automatic daylight dimming in 100% of the teaching spaces. The learning commons of each school zone houses a three-story conical lightwell, funneling daylight throughout each floor of the building. Supported by these sustainable design choices, the new building is an adaptable and flexible space that serves students as well as Winthrop’s community. A sense of shared ownership and collaboration define the school’s atmosphere—areas like the library and auditorium may serve a large group of high schoolers, a single middle school class, or community groups at various times throughout the day. An alternative PE space for the Middle/High students features garage doors that open into a shared plaza, and the indoor high school café is connected to an outdoor seating area. This encourages informal interactions between students, while also making learning visible to the surrounding neighborhood, further characterizing the new school as a source of pride for students and community members alike.