The new Katherine Johnson Technology Magnet Academy (KJTMA) was designed with an emphasis on technology, STEM, and outdoor learning. The school provides learning opportunities focused on robotics, coding, science, digital art, and music for 900 kindergarten through fifth grade students each year.
The two-story, 109,500-sf facility includes a media center that is surrounded by a variety of secure outdoor learning areas. The two-story media center anchors the building and was designed to blur the lines between indoor and outdoor space through the utilization of daylight, views, thermal comfort, and materials.
Courtesy KJTMA
Grade-level rows of classrooms surround the building’s core. Flexible collaboration zones with operable acoustic glass partitions link the classroom corridors with the media center and outdoor environments.
See Also: Chapman University opens new science and engineering center
A binary code pattern was applied to the exterior building fenestration meant to mimic robotics and coding principles and provide an interior corridor experience that facilitates student visibility and interaction. The building’s interior features a space travel theme that connects content to the programmatic offerings in the adjacent spaces. For example, lessons about gravity are located near the gym, while a moon buggy is displayed near robotics. Dynamic QR codes embedded in the wall graphics enable students to access supplementary information through their school-issued iPads. Teachers can alter the content tied to the codes at any time to accommodate age ranges and subject matter.
Related Stories
| Oct 18, 2011
St. Martin’s Episcopal School expands facilities
Evergreen commences construction on environmentally sustainable campus expansion.
| Sep 29, 2011
Busch Engineering, Science and Technology Residence Hall opens to Rutgers students
With a total development cost of $57 million, B.E.S.T. is the first on-campus residence hall constructed by Rutgers since 1994.
| May 18, 2011
Major Trends in University Residence Halls
They’re not ‘dorms’ anymore. Today’s collegiate housing facilities are lively, state-of-the-art, and green—and a growing sector for Building Teams to explore.
| May 18, 2011
Former Bronx railyard redeveloped as shared education campus
Four schools find strength in numbers at the new 2,310-student Mott Haven Campus in New York City. The schools—three high schools and a K-4 elementary school—coexist on the 6.5-acre South Bronx campus, which was once a railyard.
| May 18, 2011
Eco-friendly San Antonio school combines history and sustainability
The 113,000-sf Rolling Meadows Elementary School in San Antonio is the Judson Independent School District’s first sustainable facility, with green features such as vented roofs for rainwater collection and regionally sourced materials.
| May 18, 2011
New Reform Jewish Independent school opens outside Boston
The Rashi School, one of only 17 Reform Jewish independent schools in North American and Israel, opened a new $30 million facility on a 166-acre campus shared with the Hebrew SeniorLife community on the Charles River in Dedham, Mass.
| May 18, 2011
Addition provides new school for pre-K and special-needs kids outside Chicago
Perkins+Will, Chicago, designed the Early Learning Center, a $9 million, 37,000-sf addition to Barrington Middle School in Barrington, Ill., to create an easily accessible and safe learning environment for pre-kindergarten and special-needs students.
