Design Principles
Through a multi-year journey of discovery and exploration that involved teachers, students, administrators, and parents, six key design themes were identified. These themes align with with our values, philosophy, and mission, and will serve to guide our campus upgrade.
Flexible
We need a forward-looking vision for our campus that not only meets the needs of our current students but has the flexibility to meet the needs of future students as education changes over time. A purpose-built flexible campus with rooms that can be easily changed in size and purpose gives our faculty the ability to adjust to the evolving needs of our students. What kids need now may be different in 10 or 20 years and a flexible campus allows our faculty to adapt over time.
Functional
After an extensive physical audit of our current campus we found that the current configuration of many of our buildings are inefficient, and with more flexibly designed buildings, we can capture more space for learning, play/activity space, and new programs. A campus upgrade offers the opportunity to increase learning space by as much as 30 percent and play space by as much as 84 percent.
Scalable
SAS is built upon an expansive 36-acre campus. The current building configuration of single loaded corridors and traditional classrooms creates difficulty in building learning communities. The facilities upgrade plan aims to creatively and effectively optimize land, creating multiple scales of community to make our big school feel small.
Modular
Modular spaces allow teachers to adjust the classroom on the fly. Sliding glass doors, moveable walls, and lots of flexible seating options empower teachers to create spaces customized to the learning students engage in each day.
Sustainable
As a school that looks to the future for our current students, we also seek to operate without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The new development will be sensitive to the natural landscape. It will resource conservation, and ensure energy efficiency in building design. Goals include meeting Net Zero energy for all new construction and meeting Green Mark Platinum standard. The master plan ultimately balances present needs with the imperatives of the future.
Smart
New learning environments will home modern and innovative systems to support learning and equip them well into the future. Digital room reservation software can preset lights, technology and temperature of spaces while a sustainability dashboard will provides real time data for energy and resource use for students to learn from, and optimize their consumption.
Considering these six key themes, the divisions have derived design principles that will serve as the foundation for future design work.
Design Principles in Each Division
| Elementary School | Middle School | High School |
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Pedagogy: Inquiry is at the heart of learning and sets the conditions for the learning environment. Personalization: The learning environment will provide the flexibility for every student to develop agency in the process of personalizing their learning. Nature: Learning environments will have strong connections to nature with accessible outdoor play parks throughout the building. Well-being: The building design will promote positive well being through a variety of developmentally appropriate spaces that support physical, social, and emotional health. Scale: Break down the scale of the school community into smaller communities of teachers and students each with a suite of varied and flexible learning spaces. Ownership: Learning communities will support the construct of collective responsibility of student learning and wellbeing, shared ownership of the environment. Heart: A centralized interconnected series of spaces that inspire and support exploration and creation will serve as the heart of middle school. Dining: Dining is a valued and enjoyable learning experience. |
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Transition: Building organization will maximize time and provide intentional and meaningful means of circulation. World Language: The world language learning environment is an immersive and experiential learning suite of spaces customized to meet the needs of the target language. Shared resources will provide opportunities for multiple language learners to come together. |
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Interdisciplinary: Learning will be designed to support interdisciplinary learning structures through a variety of flexible space that will promote an environment where every student is known and advocated for. Library: A centralized library will inspire inquiry with emphasis on the developmental needs of children through different stages of literacy, discovery, consumption, and production. Art and Music: Art and music will be easily accessed by students at different grade levels. |
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