St. Michael the Archangel Catholic High School

St. Michael the Archangel Catholic High School

LEE’S SUMMIT, MISSOURI

  • Diocese of Kansas City – St. Joseph
  • New Construction
  • 90,000 SF
  • $25 million
  • Religious Design Partner: SFS Architecture

Traditional values meet innovative learning where students get a well-rounded education in a space that marries religious teachings with brain-based learning.

This new Kansas City Diocese school combines the former St. Mary’s and Archbishop O’Hara high schools into one cohesive learning environment. A large atrium connects the chapel and academic spaces with a two-story learning stair, which encourages collaboration and community. The classrooms’ traditional style is complemented by flexible furniture that allow the spaces to adapt to each day’s teaching schedule.

Colorado Military Academy

military academy
Colorado Military Academy

Colorado Military Academy

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO

  • Phase 1: 44,000 SF
  • Total Building Size: 88,000 SF
  • Master Plan new addition: 48,000 SF
  • $3.2 million

Cadets cannot tell their collaborative environment is housed in a former office building. Perfectly positioned among the surrounding five military installations, cadets receive a one-of-a-kind STEM education focused on leadership and integrity.

Collaboration and break-out zones are integrated together throughout the school to allow teachers to expand learning outside of the traditional classroom. Learners can explore new ideas and work on projects in various group sizes. This design helps the Academy to push its vision further to encourage cadets to think globally.

The Academy currently supports grades kindergarten through eighth and will continue to grow by a grade level each year to 12th grade.

Woodrow Wilson Academy

Woodrow Wilson Academy

WESTMINSTER, COLORADO

  • Renovation & Additions
  • 13,500 SF
  • $4.5 million

Middle school students feel like they have their own space to learn and grow separate from the elementary school students. Their new space supports expanded student collaboration and project-based learning.

Students can collaborate in the new classrooms with glass walls that provide ample daylight and open up to accommodate large and small-groups, including to the outdoors, encouraging classes to spill outside for learning and experimenting. This flexibility continues into the new dining commons, which features a variety of seating options, giving students more freedom. Inspirational graphics instill a sense of pride and belonging for students, incorporating diversity and culture.

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.

IDEA Space KC – The Barstow School

IDEA SPACE KC

IN PROGRESS

  • Adaptive Reuse
  • 63,000 SF
  • $14.5 million

Once a large grocery store, an expansive retail building will be transformed into an Early Childhood Center, as well as other various educational support spaces.

It takes vision to look at an existing retail store and picture a learning environment in its place, but that is exactly the innovative vision that The Barstow School had in mind. The Early Childhood Center entrance will be where the previous pharmacy operated, utilizing the covered pharmacy drop-off area for a dedicated secure covered entry. Flexible program spaces such as a STEAM workshop and lab, a maker space, black box theater, café and collaborative space will fill the rest of the building, serving as a resource for the Barstow community.

Due to existing site constraints, there is no room for an outdoor playground around the building. Instead, as a secure and innovative solution, there will be an outdoor courtyard placed in the middle of the building. This opens doors for controlled outdoor learning experiences and adds natural daylighting through adjacent glazed windows into classrooms. The wide indoor play area will host a sensory table and a commons collaboration area that bleeds into built-in manipulative nooks.

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Colorado SKIES Academy

COLORADO SKIES ACADEMY

  • Centennial, Colorado
  • New Construction
  • 23,000 SF
  • $7 million

The STEM curriculum and project-based learning introduces young students to aviation early on.

Colorado Skies Academy is a new Charter School for grades 6–8, located at the Centennial Airport in Centennial, CO. The two-story, 23,000-square-foot facility is also affiliated with the adjacent Wings Over the Rockies Aviation Museum housing over 50 vintage military aircraft.

The project-based learning/STEM curriculum is flight-based, teaching students many different facets of aviation, and is supplemented by a focus on social-emotional development. The learning environment itself supports each of these endeavors. The Exploratorium allows students to collaborate in groups or complete individual work in a setting inspiring out-of-the-box thinking, while active corridors offer a choice in learning spaces. The unique shape of the Exploratorium resembles a rocket booster, and vibrant graphics project the aviation and aerospace theme throughout. The Spread Your Wings program flies in teachers from Colorado’s front range for exposure to the program as professional development and in turn, introduces students to experts in the industry.

St. James Academy

ST. JAMES ACADEMY

LENEXA, KANSAS

  • Archdiocese of Kansas City-Kansas
  • New Construction
  • 108,000 SF

Located in a growing suburb within the greater Kansas City area, this facility integrates and adapts to changes in education, spirituality and technology.

The Chapel serves as the Heart of the Campus. This statement not only led to the present location of the Chapel, but also a concept of allowing students to be in the Presence of Christ as they experienced the building through visual connections to the Tabernacle. The Chapel is also flexible enough to not only accommodate 200 students, but the entire 800-student population, and still maintain a contiguous space so that they felt like they were apart of the Mass. We accomplished this by combining the allocated space for dining, gathering, and the Chapel into one large common centralized space detailed with similar materials and volume.

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Compass Montessori School

The impressive compass sculpture hanging from the exposed ceiling of the main corridor serves as a node, providing an interesting gathering space and guiding students to their new “home”, or learning environment.

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