Learnscape-Grain Valley School District

LEARNSCAPE 2017

  • Grain Valley School District
  • Grain Valley High School

Located on a wooded site just South of Grain Valley High School, the concept was to produce and reveal a sense of coexistence among people, nature and technology.

Through design sessions with Grain Valley students and faculty, the idea to create a dominate walkway of varying heights linking learning spaces of diverse sizes took shape. A layer of technology was added to the site, paradoxically, to aid in the experience of the natural site. The major building materials were purposely kept simple – limestone gravel for the path, Cor-ten steel for the major horizontal and vertical elements, and cedar lumber for the deck. Keeping with our concept, the natural environment will slowly change the steel from grey to a dark red as it rusts, while just the opposite will happen to the cedar. It will slowly change from its natural reddish hue to steel grey over time. These materials speak to the ever-changing natural world. The path links several backdrops for education, including a gathering space for 20-30 students and staff, a collaboration space for smaller groups, a garden space to facilitate biological and botanical curriculum, and an observation area away from the noise of civilization meant to be a more quiet and contemplative space for individuals.

Lenexa City Center Library

Lenexa City Center Library

In association with Holzman Moss Bottino Architecture

LENEXA, KANSAS

  • Johnson County Library System
  • New Construction
  • 40,000 SF
  • $15 Million

The new Lenexa City Center Library is a source of inspiration, innovation and experiences that will enrich the surrounding community.

Located in the heart of Lenexa’s contemporary city center, this development is helping establish a new downtown for the city. Adjacent to a city hall, community center, restaurants and public market, the library welcomes all members of the community.

To achieve total flexibility, the majority of the library is an open loft-like space that houses the adult, teen, and juvenile collections on two levels. A two-story atrium serves as the living room for the community. Three large flexible meeting spaces and four smaller meeting spaces can be utilized by both library staff and community members and will provide access to technology for community groups, tutoring, and collaborative discussions. Patron convenience is at the forefront of the library’s automated conveyance system that allows patrons to both pick up holds and drop off returns via a drive-thru in the parking garage. The new library incorporates a service model designed to enhance public access to the collections, focus services to patrons, and integrate patron self-service strategies and staff mobility.

This new library is meant to engage the community. The Community commons visually connects to the civic plaza, street, and public market. The upper and lower entries allow for ease of patron access from both the Civic Center and Public Plaza.

Thirty-foot high towering glass and zinc shingled walls fold across two sides of the building and allow for connectivity between the outdoor plaza and library patrons. These folding walls are unified by a curving railing that weaves between the interior and exterior of the building. This ribbon-like railing draws patrons walking along the public plaza toward the library’s two entrances.

Joplin Early Childhood Center

Joplin Early Childhood Center

JOPLIN, MISSOURI

  • Joplin School District
  • New Construction
  • 37,500 SF
  • $8.7 million

After seven years in temporary classrooms, Joplin’s littlest learners finally have a home for learning and exploring. This is “Where it all Begins…”

Teachers can now collaborate together to utilize shared learning centers that are integral to their early education curriculum, rather than having to house these centers in their classrooms, which has freed up space in their rooms for more individual and group learning.

It was important for the Joplin community that their Early Childhood Center feels more like a home than a school to ease the transition for students. This space comes alive thanks to the integration of the environmental graphics. Students and visitors are immersed in a forest of trees and critters. The Learning Grove opens learners’ imaginations with construction and waterplay stations, as well as a tricycle track, blurring the lines between indoor and outdoor learning.

In May 2011, an F-5 tornado struck the city of Joplin, devastating the community. The District’s early childhood center is the last piece of Operation Rebuild.

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

  • IIDA Mid-America – Silver Award in K-12 Education
  • AIA Kansas City – Citation Award in Interior Architecture

Joplin Early Childhood Center

JOPLIN, MISSOURI

  • Joplin School District
  • New Construction
  • 37,500 SF
  • $8.7 million

After seven years in temporary classrooms, Joplin’s littlest learners finally have a home for learning and exploring. This is “Where it all Begins…”

Teachers can now collaborate together to utilize shared learning centers that are integral to their early education curriculum, rather than having to house these centers in their classrooms, which has freed up space in their rooms for more individual and group learning.

It was important for the Joplin community that their Early Childhood Center feels more like a home than a school to ease the transition for students. This space comes alive thanks to the integration of the environmental graphics. Students and visitors are immersed in a forest of trees and critters. The Learning Grove opens learners’ imaginations with construction and waterplay stations, as well as a tricycle track, blurring the lines between indoor and outdoor learning.

In May 2011, an F-5 tornado struck the city of Joplin, devastating the community. The District’s early childhood center is the last piece of Operation Rebuild.

Guadalupe Centers

As a hub in the Latino communities of Kansas City, the Guadalupe Centers’ elementary and library renovations will allow the program to efficiently serve more individuals for years to come.

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Hollis + Miller Architects Kansas City Workspace

Hollis + Miller Kansas City office

Hollis + Miller Architects Kansas City Workspace

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI

  • Corrigan Station
  • Tenant Finish
  • 30,000 SF

An open communicating stair prominently and purposely connects three floors at the center of Hollis + Miller’s Kansas City office space, enhancing all-office culture and promoting collaboration.

The main entry is located on the middle floor, with each floor housing unique resources to encourage co-mingling. We are stronger together, so by housing the charrette spaces on the bottom floor, the café on the middle floor, and the interior library, focus booths and human resources on the top floor, team members are obligated to interact daily outside their studios. This strengthens our six studios as a team and enhances our office culture.

inside

The Hollis + Miller Workspace reflects who we are and how we work. Every space reinforces the concepts of team, collaboration, and balance. Ultimately, the space is a stage and tool for our people to pursue the larger purpose of empowering communities through design and leadership.

St. Elizabeth Early Childhood Center

St. Elizabeth Early Childhood Center

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI

  • St. Elizabeth Catholic School
  • Renovation/Addition
  • 20,000 SF
  • $4 million

DIOCESE OF KANSAS CITY-ST. JOSEPH CATHOLIC SCHOOLS

For years, the St. Elizabeth Early Childhood Center was located across a high-traffic street from the Catholic Church, calling for their youngest students to journey back and forth multiple times a day. Hollis + Miller designed a master plan for the Church, putting high priority on uniting the Early Childhood Center, K-8 school and the Catholic Church on the same side of the street. The new design does just that, providing peace of mind for staff and parents, and also allows opportunities for growth and adaptations in the future.

The renovated rectory building hosts eight new classrooms for pre-k and kindergarten students. The rectory, a residential home for members of the clergy, challenged the design team to develop innovative solutions transforming the space into a learning environment. The design incorporates research-based learning tools and showcases a touch of tradition with the existing stone walls of the rectory, as well as the connecting Church. The new early childhood center features a learning stair and sliding classroom walls for co-teaching, shared storage areas and indoor/outdoor collaboration spaces to expand fine motor skills. A large balcony serves as a flexible commons area and gathering space for students, staff and parish members.