Shelton School’s new campus incorporates a balanced curriculum offering academics, athletics, arts, and sciences to serve and empower students who learn differently, providing a multitude of opportunities to excel within their strengths.   

The conversion of the 30-acre, 330,000 SF single-story late 1970’s office campus provides a welcoming environment supporting the school’s pedagogy in a student-centered and technologically rich setting that is calm and flexible in offering a variety of educational venues.   

Key to the project’s success were the thoughtful programming efforts by the Client, Staff, and End-Users, in collaboration with the AE Team resulting in achievement of the following project goals:    

• Provide Academic, STEM, Athletics and Arts programming/venues affording full student development on a single campus.  

• Provide for future growth and flexibility – 900 to 1,400 maximum student population, affording fluctuating populations within each Division to accommodate changing community demands.  

• Provide a Pre-K through 12th grade school eco-system allowing each grade Division to function independently, while maximizing efficiencies of common functions in a cohesive and well-organized environment.   
  • Academic – Each Division has a distinct entry allowing the separation of the various Divisions to function independently allowing teachers to engage students in different modalities unique to their different ways of accepting information and successfully accomplish educational goals.  
  • STEM – Each Division incorporates its own dedicated STEM Classrooms with appropriate equipment, millwork, and teaching walls encouraging participation and experimentation.   
  • Athletics – Direct exterior access to fields and easy access to interior venues. The Competition Gymnasium was planned to accommodate several functions and annual events and also provides the code required Storm Shelter.  
  • Performing Arts – With its own separate and uniquely expressed architectural canopied entrance, the Fine Arts complex was planned and provides dedicated pre-function, performance, and classrooms offering flexibility of performance venues, special events, student art exhibits, and gathering space.  It also serves as queuing space for the Elementary School’s daily carpool function.  

• Provide deliberate Site Planning of division locations, entry points and campus vehicular circulation to take advantage of existing streets and traffic signals optimizing site circulation, vehicular queueing capacities, Division separation, and security measures within the school eco-system.