Site plan/Floor plan - level one: the building is approached from the east along a swale through the site into the entry and administration. The main section of media center is located immediately upon entry and is open to the main commons that runs the length of the building.

The second floor contains the main academics for the school, including grade-level learning communities and their support spaces, along with active learning spaces, blended learning labs, and maker space.

The third level is almost identical to the second, but only contains the academic classroom portion of the second floor. Additionally, the horticulture lab and greenhouse are located here with an adjacent green roof.

Olathe West High School focuses on 21st-century learning, emphasizing the use of technology, open and modular learning spaces, and collaboration among students.

Nestled into the hillside of a prairie, the project siting melds the compact, three-story facility with the surrounding landscape and preserves its natural beauty, while the exterior design incorporates striations reflecting the swale in the foreground.

Learning stairs located at each end of the building core connect the learning communities, encourage collaboration and socialization between students, and put learning on display.

The variety of learning spaces, flexible furniture, and open collaboration areas promote project-based learning as well as support a wide range of activities and group sizes.

The learning commons located in the building’s core provides space for large presentations and community interaction as well as visual and physical connections to the open media center, a new TV and broadcasting studio, multi-media workshops, and the four learning communities.

Educators own their neighborhoods as a group, working together to devise weekly lesson plans that include choosing the learning space that works best for each day and even teaching combined subjects in a blended learning environment.

Each of the four learning communities include a resource library and media support center, which overlook the main first-floor media center.

The design includes eight maker spaces, equipped with 3D printers, and MacBook Airs provided to students through a 1:1 device program further support the school’s strong focus on the use of technology.

A beam pulled from the wreckage of The World Trade Center on 9/11 is mounted outside of the Public Safety Academy.

A growing wall with 60 planter boxes designates the entrance to the Green Technology Academy, which helps students prepare for careers in botany and renewable energy.

Spaces supporting the green technologies program include a green roof and rooftop horticulture classroom, rainwater collection, solar panels, and a wind turbine.

The high school also includes a performing arts center, complete with a large auditorium with retractable seating and a smaller black box theater called the flex theater, as well as three gymnasiums, which include an indoor track and a FEMA storm shelter, and several practice fields for soccer, football, baseball, softball, and tennis.

©Tom Holdsworth

©Tom Holdsworth

©Tom Holdsworth