Perryville Elementary School
Additions & Improvements
Educational Design Expertise Creates Nurturing 21st Century Learning Environment
Problem
Cecil County Public Schools decided the old, cramped space at Perryville Elementary School needed a 21st century redesign. The building was no longer useful for the staff and students.
StudioJAED needed to tackle challenges such as:
- Finding a cost-effective solution: With so many building improvements at hand, it raised the question whether more time and money would be saved building a new school altogether.
- Opening up more space: Classrooms were too small for comfort. The school also needed a full-sized gymnasium that could accommodate everyone—as they only had a partial gym.
- Meeting 21st century building standards: The school had an outdated appearance and facilities that didn’t meet modern standards for schools.
- Creating a unified community: Students, teachers, and parents all had a stake in the new building and needed to be happy with the final product.
- Improving site planning: The school’s congested parking lot and inefficient onsite roads caused traffic jams during student pick up and drop off.
Solution
Architects and engineers specializing in educational building design conducted a facility conditions assessment to determine whether new construction or building renovations were more cost effective. The assessment determined the building could sustain renovations.
StudioJAED then created an educational design plan for the school that would push Perryville Elementary into the 21st century. Architects and engineers experienced with school redesigns knew that the stakeholders—teachers, students, administrators, parents—were key to developing a design that improved day-to-day functions and made the community feel welcome.
Teams of parents, teachers, and students worked together to choose a theme to guide the design through two StudioJAED-led exercises:
- Experience Mapping: The stakeholders imagined their ideal experience in a new building by mapping the tasks students and teachers carry out daily.
- Visual Imaging: Groups of stakeholders voted on a winning theme using images and words they felt captured their vision of the new building.
These exercises helped stakeholders create a clear map to guide the design and decide on a “Nurturing” theme. Architects incorporated the Nurturing theme using two key architectural focal points in the school:
- Tree sculpture in the school’s lobby: The tree represents the students who grow and learn in the school.
- Hand sculpture at the front of the school: The hand represents the school which nurtures and cares for the students as they grow.
Mapping the experience of different personas helped educational building design architects create functional and beautiful designs for the school that fit the “Nurturing” theme. New features included:
- Media center to enhance 21st century learning
- Improved classroom acoustics
- Rooms used more natural daylight with a design technique called “Daylight Harvesting”
- Modernized access controls
- Building security monitoring
- Secured office administration area that meets modern educational safety standards
As well as expansions to the:
- Gymnasium
- Cafeteria
- Classroom
Finally, StudioJAED improved site planning of the roadways to:
- Separate bus traffic from parent traffic
- Improve parking lot traffic flow
Impact
Returning students, teachers, and staff felt unified walking into Perryville Elementary after 2 years away. The nurturing environment welcomed them into a school fit for 21st century learning—projecting ideas of caregiving and good wellbeing for the student body.
The building’s new design lowered the school’s energy costs by pulling in more sunlight to reduce the amount of lighting needed in classrooms. The newly organized on-site roads encouraged more fluid traffic from pick up to drop off. The larger classrooms and media centers provided more comfortable and modern learning spaces for students. Last but not least, StudioJAED stayed on schedule and on budget for the project.
Overall, the new building provided a better learning experience with more space, facilities, technology, and security built into the design.