Horizon Middle School
Moorhead, Minn.
Rozeboom Miller Architects

Library shines as a beacon on the horizon

© Don F. Wong

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Located at the edge of Moorhead, Minn., an agricultural town situated on the fertile soil of an ancient lakebed, the 64-acre site of the Horizon Middle School features less than one foot of grade change. The architects at Rozeboom Miller Architects asked themselves: In a landscape of zero elevation and an infinite horizon, how does one build a learning community for 1,300 students in grades six through eight? How does one create a place? They answered this question by situating the various learning and gathering spaces in a constant dialogue with the mystery, possibility, and promise of the distant horizon.

The building’s Z-shaped layout creates edges that frame exterior rooms and courtyards responding to wind direction, solar orientation, and outdoor learning settings. Views from within the school typically look back at other parts of the building disappearing toward the horizon line. This self-referential quality brings specificity to an abstract landscape by situating the building in the foreground and the horizon in the background. The Z shape also allows for a sheltered entry court, oriented toward the southeast, offering critical protection during the winter when wind gusts grow severe.

Programmatically, the building consists of three zones: a three-story classroom wing, a physical education and cafetorium wing, and a two-story connecting link that contains administrative offices, special-ed programs, and labs. The architecture attempts to nurture social interaction by providing informal areas for students to gather, complete with carpeting, soft seating, and a view toward the horizon. Instead of traditional locker lined corridors, a series of locker bays is set perpendicular to the south curtain wall. It features additional gathering areas set into a two-foot-wide continuous sill. To make the school more accessible and to build stronger social relationships among students, the classroom wing is subdivided into nine learning communities. Each community features four general classrooms, a science lab, and a multipurpose resource center for group projects and team teaching.

Exterior materials consist of overlapping planes of brick, glass curtain wall, cast stone, and corrugated metal panels. While the brick and metal panels echo the Midwestern and agricultural vernacular, Rozeboom Miller used these materials to modulate areas of transparency and frame views of the landscape. The sheer envelopes offer a literal and symbolic transparency into the school community, connecting the public with the process of learning. The architects placed the media center in a hovering glass box at the physical and symbolic heart of the school. During the short winter days, this box becomes a glowing beacon to students arriving in the morning, and for parents arriving at night to pick up their children after extracurricular activities. In warmer summer months, a series of aluminum fins and deep mullions modulate direct sun exposure on the media center's glazing.

Formal name of Project:
Horizon Middle School

Location:
Moorhead, Minn.

Gross square footage:
230,000 sq. ft.

Total co nstruction cost:
$26.5 million

Owner:
Moorhead Area Public Schools

Architect:
Rozeboom Miller Architects
244 First Ave. North
Minneapolis, MN 55401
612-332-2110 tel.
612-664-8152 fax
www.rmarchitects.com