PROJECT NARRARTIVE

Blake Bass Middle School was designed to relieve overcrowding at surrounding middle schools due to rapid growth in the Coweta County School System. Named for a Coweta native who served the school system in various roles for 35 years, including teacher, coach, administrator, and Superintendent, the school has 56 instructional units for 887 students.

With more than 22,000 students in 33 public schools, the Coweta County School System serves a growing population of over 150,000 in south metro Atlanta. To meet the needs of an increasing student population, Blake Bass Middle School's ancillary spaces and site design allow for a future expansion of 12 classrooms and capacity for 1,200 students.

The school's floor plan offers a centrally located work/gallery space, equipped with cabinets and a sink, that allows students to work together in groups on class projects. Students and others in the school can view and learn from these projects. This flexible space can also be used for small dramas with use of a portable stage.

Manley Spangler Smith Architects, P.C., has focused on school planning for more than 70 years, and we have seen many design strategies evolve related to school designs. As schools became bigger, we began to develop ideas for designing large schools under one roof. We noticed that elements of a school are similar to small cities. We began to think of small cities as an organizing movement.

Clear circulation may be the most important design strategy in planning a city or a school. In the built environment of a school, as in the city, the idea of safe, easy, and intuitive movement can lead to an increased sense of wellbeing. Effective organization of the building's systems is also important. The service lanes in some cities provide a perfect strategy to organize major systems. Blake Bass Middle School incorporates mechanical corridors to service the backs of the classrooms, much like service lanes in cities.