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Middle School Site Plan - New
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Floor Plan - Original
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Floor Plan - New
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Innovation Center Furniture / Zoning Plan
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STEM Wing Furniture / Zoning Plan
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Exterior (Before/After) : A new canopy was added to the front entrance to not only provide shelter from inclement weather, but to act as a protective barrier against vehicles
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Library (Before/After) : The existing dark, underutilized space did not support the district's forward-thinking curriculum, so we were challenged to create an environment that captured the district's goals
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Innovation Center (After) : In lieu of a traditional circulation desk, a genius bar promotes self-directed assistance
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Innovation Center (After) : A critical thinking lounge allows for large class meetings/presentations, and doubles as a professional development space for staff
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Innovation Center (After) : Zoning allows for several classes to meet in the Innovation Center simultaneously
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Innovation Center (After) : New drop-ceilings, floating clouds, baffles, and acoustical panels were carefully placed in order to provide areas of "shelter" for students, as well as provide an ideal sound quality for the learning environment
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Innovation Center (After) : A green house offers students the opportunity to learn and conduct experiments related to topics such as climate control
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Innovation Center (After) : A virtual reality room offers new curriculum opportunities
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STEM Wing (Before/After) : Six traditional classrooms were converted into one light-filled, collaborative learning environment complete with a research and development space for exploration, discovery, and sharing
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STEM Wing (After) : Classrooms are outfitted with several monitors, screens, and projectors, taking away the traditional "front of the classroom", and allowing learning to be mobile and encompass the entire space
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STEM Wing (After) : Movable glass walls allow individual classrooms to open up into the corridor, creating one unified learning space, and designating almost 100% of the wing to learning opportunities
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STEM Wing (After) : A research and development space offers room for exploration, discovery, and sharing
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Robert McKendrick Photography
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Robert McKendrick Photography
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Robert McKendrick Photography
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Innovation Center and STEM Wing Ribbon Cutting Ceremony (photo credit: CCSD 93)
A district-wide initiative to update every school's library (now called Innovation Centers) into bright, engaging, and collaborative learning environments drove the renovations at this suburban middle school. The dark, underutilized space did not support the district's forward-thinking curriculum so ARCON was challenged to push the envelope and create an environment that captured the district's goals.
Individual science classrooms did not allow for collaboration among classes, nor did it allow space for demonstration, and experimentation. The desire to integrate STEM curriculum at a larger scale initiated the creation of a STEM Wing. Six traditional classrooms were converted into one light-filled, collaborative learning environment.
The Innovation Center is zoned into ten unique spaces: a collaboration lounge, critical thinking lounge, presentation area, large group seating area, think tank, small group lounge, genius bar, virtual reality room, green house, and digital production studio offering students new curriculum opportunities.
The new STEM Wing is outfitted with movable glass walls allowing individual classrooms to open up into the corridor, creating one unified learning space, and designating almost 100% of the wing to learning opportunities. The entire STEM wing puts learning on display, as the design creates transparency between all classroom spaces and fosters curiosity, critical thinking, and exploration.
Stratford Middle School
Category
Middle School
Description
Citation of Excellence
Project Location:
Bloomingdale, IL
Architecture Firm
ARCON Associates, Inc.
Lombard, IL
www.arconassoc.com
https://www.facebook.com/ARCONassoc
Photography By:
Robert McKendrick Photography
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