Woodland Elementary School

Following a town-wide grade reconfiguration reuniting grades 6-8 into a middle school to accommodate the growing elementary-aged population, the new 132,500 sf Woodland Elementary School was designed to serve a large population of 985 students while also remaining friendly, navigable, and comfortable for the young learners. From the earliest stages of design, the team tailored the design to the school’s unique qualities, both in its educational program, organized around team teaching, and its physical situation on a wooded site surrounded by wetlands. Each grade occupies one floor in the academic wing, grouped into smaller classroom clusters with a learning commons just outside. These common areas allow educators to easily shift from classroom environments to large-group events, team projects, and small-group work sessions. The flexible academic wing is designed for Woodland’s approach to differentiated instruction and Response to Intervention, in which students of differing abilities work in smaller groups in shared, small-group spaces adjacent to pairs of classrooms. Woodland’s identity is expressed both in the school’s physical siting and material choices. The design team used natural assets in its design, siting the school to minimize impact on the surrounding wetlands, and incorporating the area’s physical identity into the design. The new school’s pollinator garden and retention pond function as outdoor classrooms; these spaces, along with raised planters, barrels to catch storm water, and PV panels, are integrated into the science curriculum, encouraging students to engage in hands-on learning within their natural surroundings. Inside, skylights, clerestory windows, and multi-story lightwells maximize natural daylighting. Goals to reach LEED Silver certification coincided with the community’s desire for a high performance and durable school. To this end, the design team chose healthy, low-maintenance materials, including a concrete panel rain screen system, zinc sheet metal roofing and accents, and a brick cavity wall construction on the exterior. On the interior, ceramic tile, resilient floor tile, and glass guardrails will withstand heavy use over time. While budget constraints prevented the immediate addition of solar panels, the roof was designed with a structure that could carry the load of photovoltaic panels, and electric pathways were built in to make the building “solar-ready.” Soon after completion, a solar array was added, reducing yearly electrical costs by $17,000. With design choices tailored to community needs and adaptable spaces throughout, the new Woodland Elementary School supports learning at all levels, both within the classroom and within the school’s natural surroundings.