Following a district-wide facility master plan with Wold Architects and Engineers, Summit School district partnered with our team to complete renovations at Silverthorne Elementary School. These renovations created new spaces to enrich the learning environment and improved security at the school.
The district began with its Vision 2020 plan, which identified overarching goals for every school in the district. Wold worked with district leadership and Silverthorne’s design advisory group (DAG) to determine its unique needs and community needs. Space for group projects and collaborative activities were desired and greater security, the efficiency of space and flow. Our team used virtual reality technology to help the DAG visualize creative solutions to meet these needs.
The project included improvements at several different learning spaces within the school. The existing media center was a key area of focus. The media center, which already had beautiful views of the mountains, was remodeled to maintain these views and increase interior functionality and openness. A small group area for storytime and presentations was created, as well as a project “maker space.” The maker space created within the media center was equipped with amenities to encourage creativity: movable, durable furniture, ample power, storage and sink for easy clean-up. It is connected to the media center with glass walls and a large overhead door opening to put learning on display and also serves as an overflow space during large events.
Inside the media center, features such as presentation LCD monitors were added for classes and meetings. This made the space more interactive and was easier to operate than their previous technology. More flexible soft seating was added for increased comfort.
Along with renovations to the media center, Wold worked to make improvements to the reading intervention space. Our team addressed the functional issue of storage and created space for comfortable seating for students to use. Renovations were also seen in the front office to address security concerns. Overall, the renovations at Silverthorne Elementary School created flexible and more accessible learning spaces for students and staff.