Delaware City Schools, Dempsey Middle School

Delaware, Ohio

Firm

TRIAD Architects

Client

Delaware City Schools

Area

29,400 sq.ft.

Total Cost

$58,000,000

Completion Date

07/2021

Kate Horgan Photography

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Design Team
Brent Foley (Principal-In-Charge); Kevin Kindy (Project Manager); Morgan Mitchell (Project Design Lead); Rachael Hill (Architectural Designer)

Dempsey Middle School in Delaware, Ohio, is a 136,246-square-foot school for students in grades six to nine. The Triad team was charged with renovating 26,200 square feet of the space and designing a 3,200-square-foot addition. The renovation consisted of a two-story academic corridor with a flex lab. The addition is an orchestra performing space.

The addition juxtaposes the traditional design of the existing building with contemporary architecture and materials. The new space is flooded with natural light and bright, fun colors, providing inspiration and a sense of playfulness.

The school’s new flex space acts as an extended learning area during school hours and as an after-school program space at the day’s end. The design team gave the room a fun, energetic atmosphere by incorporating colorful, soft seating, activity tables, and two learning walls that boast large televisions and marker boards to support collaboration and real-time work sessions. To support after-school programming, the space also has a kitchen and ample cabinetry for equipment storage.
The main staircase is open to the second floor and features a floor-to-ceiling wood paneling system that wraps through the entry vestibule and continues onto the exterior façade of the orchestra addition. The space contains large pendant lights, bright natural light and bold splashes of color throughout the renovated corridors.

The orchestra addition is a large, two-story space shaped to enhance acoustics. The space includes a large office, an instrument storage area and vocal practicing rooms.
Acoustic panels on the walls and ceiling create an ideal environment, enabling sound to bounce and dissipate. The panels double as a visual element in the room, wrapping from wall to ceiling in an appealing pattern. Yellow, green, and light- and dark-blue student seating for 200 infuses color into the space.