Jay Schools east Elementary Renovation

Client: Jay School Corporation
Project: East Elementary Renovation

Originally designed as an open-concept school, the Superintendent described the interior appearance of the East Elementary as a ‘yard sale’.  Various styles of furniture, in addition to unclear delineation of ‘classroom areas’ contributed to the feeling of disorder within the building.  While the building had the appearance of chaos, educational delivery was actually a significant strength of this school.  In particular, the teachers maintain a strong culture of collaboration and mentorship that was reinforced by the open-concept design.  Our charge, in this project, was to bring order to the classroom areas while maintaining a degree of open environment that would maintain the culture of collaboration among the teachers and staff.

The design solution utilized new educational furniture to provide definition between grade levels and circulation walkways.  Learning Walls were used to provide some separation between individual classrooms within a grade level, while allowing teachers opportunity to work collaboratively.  In addition to the changes to the classroom area, a new media center was located near the main entrance.  A storefront glass system allowed the media center to be highly visible, in addition to allowing natural daylight to penetrate into the interior areas of the building.  More importantly, by adding an additional set of doors, it created a secure point of entry that can be monitored from the main office.