Sitting directly atop a section of this historic Route 66 in Stroud Oklahoma lies the new Stroud Tigers High School. The 125,000 square foot, 3-story building, is comprised of 24 state of the art classrooms, a 1,000 seat performing arts center, a 6,700 square foot library learning center, a noise isolated agricultural shop and classroom, and more than 20,000 square feet of commons area split between two levels and used for a variety of functions including, but not limited to, group learning, individual study, cafeteria, public and private meetings and presentations, or simply a place to relax. With the building’s placement being on such a unique site, the route 66 theme was utilized, though tastefully and in many regards obscurely throughout the facility.

One of the very first design wishes given by the owner to the design team was for the facility to have a grand collegiate feel both inside and out. So, one of the challenges became how to create large collegiate volumes while still allowing the individual to feel a sense of place and comfort throughout the building. The main commons area on the entry level is a 12,000 square feet, 150-foot-long trapezoidal space with a ceiling height of more than 20 feet at its highest locations. In order to ground this area and allow individuals to feel comfortable, an intricate ceiling layout with volumes that punched through the 20-foot ceiling height plane were created. These volumes consist of different colors and materials that are reflected below in the terrazzo flooring pattern to give the sense of smaller volumes within the expansive commons area.

In regard to the contextual influences on the site, the Route 66 concept is most noticeable in the main classroom wings. This was strategically done because where the school lies, the classroom corridors lay directly on the originally Route 66 highway. As one travels west down the upper or lower corridors, large wall graphics depicting historic sites along Route 66 west of Oklahoma to Santa Monica, California. Similarly, as one travels East down the corridors, you’ll see historical sites along Route 66 eat of Oklahoma to Chicago Illinois. The terrazzo floor patterns in the corridors took the concept of travelling down the old two-lane highway system.