Sustainable, Early Education

Stillwater Public Schools

Stillwater, Oklahoma | Completed 2014
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Work­ing in col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Still­wa­ter Pub­lic School dis­trict the design team was tasked with cre­at­ing two schools on two sites with two dis­tinct iden­ti­ties. The result is an inter­est­ing study in Ross Bar­ney Archi­tects’ belief that there are numer­ous solu­tions to the same chal­lenge; each with its own val­ues and merits. 

Work­ing in col­lab­o­ra­tion with school lead­er­ship, fac­ul­ty and par­ents, each design was devel­oped unique­ly for the com­mu­ni­ty it would serve. At the High­land Park Ele­men­tary School a ​“school house” con­cept emerged that paired fac­ul­ty ped­a­gogy with archi­tec­ture. Each ​“house” is orga­nized by grade and con­nects to shared resources includ­ing court­yards with veg­etable and flower gar­dens, rain cis­terns for irri­ga­tion, and play equip­ment. Unique iden­ti­ty is explored through col­or­ful brick facades and dynam­ic forms. 

At Will Rogers Ele­men­tary School, the fac­ul­ty were inter­est­ed in pair­ing inte­ri­or and exte­ri­or learn­ing envi­ron­ments. The adja­cent creek and native land­scape pro­vide a unique back­drop for the new build­ing. The mass echoes the land­scape while pre­serv­ing exist­ing topog­ra­phy and veg­e­ta­tion. Rib­bon win­dows and a com­pos­ite pan­el façade rip­ple with a kalei­do­scope of col­ors reflect­ing the nat­ur­al surroundings.

One core pro­gram with two solu­tions. These pub­lic schools respond to their con­text and aca­d­e­m­ic com­mu­ni­ties in dra­mat­i­cal­ly dif­fer­ent ways. Each places an empha­sis on fos­ter­ing cre­ativ­i­ty and com­mu­ni­ty; cre­at­ing inspir­ing learn­ing envi­ron­ments for the next generation. 

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2021 © Google Earth

01 High­land Park Ele­men­tary School
02 Will Rogers Ele­men­tary School
03 Okla­homa State Uni­ver­si­ty
04 Down­town Stillwater

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Work­ing in col­lab­o­ra­tion with school lead­er­ship, fac­ul­ty and par­ents, each design was devel­oped unique­ly for the com­mu­ni­ty it would serve.

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Sit­ed on a 24-acre lot, High­land Park Ele­men­tary School serves 700 stu­dents. Sur­round­ed by dense veg­e­ta­tion, the build­ing pre­served 90% of the site for open space (play­grounds, sport­ing fields, and the adja­cent forest). 

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An entry dri­ve weaves through thick conifers and presents a col­lec­tion of build­ings marked by a clock tow­er. The main entry wel­comes stu­dents and teach­ers into the school’s heart where a ​“focus” tree is plant­ed to cel­e­brate unity. 

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Will Rogers Ele­men­tary School accom­mo­dates approx­i­mate­ly 600 stu­dents on a 12-acre lot. Sit­u­at­ed with­in a res­i­den­tial sub­ur­ban neigh­bor­hood, many stu­dents bike to school; pro­vid­ing a unique oppor­tu­ni­ty for con­nec­tiv­i­ty and walkability.

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The wind­ing form is sliced by a series of cir­cu­la­tion spaces that pro­vide views through the build­ing to the creek and land­scape beyond. At the main entry, a dou­ble height space uses nat­ur­al light as a pri­ma­ry mate­r­i­al cre­at­ing a com­mu­ni­ty core to assem­ble and meet for infor­mal conversations.

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This sense of com­mu­ni­ty per­me­ates the walls. Learn­ing spaces are scat­tered through­out the site, nestling into nature. An explo­ration win­dow on the east façade show­cas­es geo-ther­mal pip­ing and encour­ages the bright minds of tomor­row to be intrigued and ask questions. 

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