Clifton Hills Elementary School

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Firm

Artech Design Group

Client

Hamilton County Department of Education

Area

40,837 sq.ft.

Total Cost

$681,232

Completion Date

12/2002

The Hamilton County Department of Education has sought for many years to improve the quality of its school environments through renovations, additions and replacements. The State of Tennessee has identified Clifton Hills, as well as 10 other schools in the system, as at-risk because of low test scores.
The school had not been renovated since 1967. The original layout was circular, with the media center and the administrative offices in the center and the classrooms generally around the perimeter. A major focus was to acoustically and visually isolate the media center from the classroom circulation since it was designed as an open plan. The media center now serves as the school focal point because of this transformation.
The color palette badly needed changing since it had the original earth tones of the 1967 construction. The designer chose to use a crayon as an overall theme, which is incorporated in the flooring details, the signage and the wall graphics. Vivid crayon colors are used to enhance the “integrity” buzzwords and phrases that are incorporated into the wall graphics.