Prototype Elementary

Davis County, Utah

Firm

Valentiner Crane Brunjes Onyon Architects

Client

Davis County School District

Area

72,000 sq.ft.

Total Cost

$6,859,700

Completion Date

06/1999

A building committee consisting of teachers, administrators, maintenance personnel and students worked with the design team to propose the educational specifications for the new school. The design responds to the committee directives by not placing students on grids in a typical egg-crate corridor.
The classrooms are divided into small groups to create learning academies with a central activity space. Computer technology, science programs and art activities take place in the shared space. Teachers’ desks are removed from the classroom and placed in a joint centralized location. The teachers’ prep room/office facilitates collaboration and are directly accessible to the activity room, with windows to enhance supervision.
Other issues incorporated into the design include separate bus and automobile traffic; easily supervised playground; and distinct vehicular traffic and pedestrian access. Also the teachers can use building scale, textures and details as instructional tools.
The media center is the heart of the school. It creates an open, visible, interactive learning environment and a community education and gathering space. In addition, it bridges technology with basic learning and incorporates EDNET, fiber-optics, Internet and cyber-space.

“The plan is playful and functional…great layout.”—1998 jury