User-input from school staff, district administration, parents, and students guided the goals of the new Prairie Winds Middle School—a facility designed with openness and flexibility for the future in mind.
The building is comprised of two north-facing academic wings organized adjacent to the Learning and Cafeteria Commons, whose glass walls face views of the surrounding forested wetlands. The liberal use of glass puts learning on display, giving students freedom to work and learn in a variety of easily supervised settings. The two common areas function as joints for the school, connecting the academic wings, athletic wing, and student and public entries. This layout ensures that flow of students remains open and welcoming while retaining subtle security lines.
By utilizing a progressive curriculum, the school embraces flexible and technology-based learning in the era of modern technology. The school integrates support technology for learning on personal devices and scale-up labs for college-readiness. Flexible classrooms are reconfigurable to embrace small group learning and one-on-one collaboration. This transparency and flexibility facilitate the learning objectives that were central to the design of the middle school.
*Project completed in association with ISG