Jack Jackter Intermediate School

Colchester, Connecticut

Firm

Lawrence Group

Client

Town of Colchester, Conn.

Area

118,100 sq.ft.

Total Cost

$17,300,000

Completion Date

01/2005

The design challenge was to renovate and add on to the existing building to accommodate grades 3 to 5 without resorting to portable classrooms as “swing spaces.”
The design concept consisted of additions to the building at nine different locations. The architect also transformed the unused interior courtyard into a central media center with a large skylight crowning the exterior mass.
The front lobby is spacious and well-lighted with a linear skylight. Stylized columns and floor tile design divide the lobby into a distinct circulation path and flanking galleries that display student art.
The low height of the existing building posed a challenge for duct space. A sloped metal roof was placed over the existing structure. An unheated attic was created for the duct runs, turning the program requirement into a design element that ties new and existing construction into one uniform architectural vocabulary.
The architect met the toughest challenge of keeping the school open during construction by structuring the construction into four phases over a 30-month period. Not a single school day was lost because of construction.