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The Reece School
Camino Nuevo High School
Dena New Primary Center
Four Corners School
John C. Daniels School
Middle School, Sidwell Friends School
Vail Mountain School
Rosa Parks School
Klein Campus Center
North Central Junior High
PS 253QRosa Parks Elementary School
Mahlum Architects designs a building that is well suited to its natural setting and in sync with the desires of an emerging community.
In late 2003, when Mahlum Architects began designing the Rosa Parks Elementary School in Redmond, Washington, families were just starting to move into the 1,000-acre mixed-use development it would serve, and the faculty had yet to be hired.
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With the school’s stakeholders still largely undefined, the Seattle-based architects would have to rely on past experience with its client, Lake Washington School District, to refine the program. However, some of the development’s early homeowners expressed a desire for a building that reflected a “national parks” theme. The developer had used the term in its promotional material to describe the community’s ambience and convey the importance of its natural amenities, including nature trails, wetlands, and parks.
Although the architects worried about how they would satisfy this request and avoid creating a historically referential building, they took the residents’ wishes seriously. They decided to work with a Modernist vernacular to create a school tied to its surroundings. By employing multistory spaces, sheltering overhangs, and a palette of earthy browns and grays accented with vibrant green, they sought to imbue the building with color and character.
The program required that the 550-student school would be divided into more intimate “learning communities”—classrooms clustered around a shared space intended for team teaching, group learning, or individual study. The model reflects Lake Washington’s pedagogical and facilities-use philosophy based on flexible spaces that can accommodate multiple teaching styles.
The resulting 66,000-square-foot school, opened in fall 2006, is composed of a series of shed-roofed structures clad with cement fiberboard panels. Along its western edge are administrative offices and shared facilities, such as the library, the school commons, and the gymnasium. On the east side of the building, one- and two-story wings contain the learning communities. They define courtyards planted with native grasses and wild flowers.
The gallery facade is transparent and permeable, with an aluminum storefront system that allows views to the east of playing fields and a wooded area beyond. Students and staff can also see out to the west, through the commons and the library. The gallery volume is open and bright, with an exposed roof structure of construction-grade plywood and open-web joists. Instead of an enclosed second-floor hallway, a bridge connects the upper-level learning communities and seems to float above the gallery’s polished concrete floor.
Formal name of project: Rosa Parks Elementary School
Location:
22845 NE Cedar Park Crescent,
Redmond, Washington 98053
Gross square footage: 66,402 sq.ft.
Completion Date: August 31, 2006
Total construction cost: $13,694,707
Owner: Lake Washington School District
Architect:
Mahlum Architects
71 Columbia Street, Suite 400
Seattle, WA 98104
Ph: (206) 441-4151
Fax: (206) 441-0478
www.mahlum.com/
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