The new Saugus Middle/High School, which opened last September, will bring together of 1,300 students in a STEAM-driven complex outfitted for exploratory learning and innovation. The school is anchored by three building pods comprising a four-story high school wing, a three-story middle school wing, and a central connecting pod with shared community spaces.
Built on a 22-acre site adjacent to the old high school, students enter the 269,000-sf building onto the school’s “main street,” a central circulation route connecting public spaces within the school. This circulation route serves as a link between the 750-seat auditorium, cafeteria, gym, and Starbucks-style student cafe.
The school hosts grades six through twelve and separates the distinct middle and high school academic zones by the shared core spaces. Eighth and ninth graders share the same floor to ease the transition from middle into high school. Grade-level classroom pods establish small learning communities that are lit with natural light via large lightwells. Windows look into a multi-level lightwell to provide a visual connection between grade levels in order to foster a sense of shared space and experience. Students across all grades have access to maker spaces and tech shops such as a woodshed, a broadcast studio, and coding and web-aided design labs.
Classrooms were designed with flexibility in mind. They are 800 sf, 350 sf larger than a standard classroom space, to allow for easy adaptation and future flexibility. The building’s furniture and equipment can be quickly rearranged in response to specific project or group needs.
Each of the building’s three learning pods is characterized by one of Saugus’s vital industries: iron, ice, and lobstering. Each pod contains a custom mural communicating the story of its industry through a graphic lens. The history of each industry also informed color choices and materiality.
The high school space is illuminated by a large, sweeping lightwell that pays homage to 1600s ironwork technology. The overall form of the lightwell through which the shaft directs light draws inspiration from the Saugus Iron Works blast furnaces.
In addition to HMFH, the build team also included Suffolk Construction as the construction manager.
Related Stories
| Jun 20, 2013
Virtual meetings enhance design of University at Buffalo Medical School
HOK designers in New York, St. Louis and Atlanta are using virtual meetings with their University at Buffalo (UB) client team to improve the design process for UB’s new School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.
| Jun 17, 2013
DOE launches database on energy performance of 60,000 buildings
The Energy Department today launched a new Buildings Performance Database, the largest free, publicly available database of residential and commercial building energy performance information.
| Jun 12, 2013
More than 90% of New York City schools have code violations
More than 90% of New York City schools have at least one outstanding building code violation. Loose wires, stuck doors and inadequate ventilation are just some of the problems.
| Jun 12, 2013
5 building projects that put the 'team' in teamwork
The winners of the 2013 Building Team Awards show that great buildings cannot be built without the successful collaboration of the Building Team.
| Jun 12, 2013
Sacred synergy achieves goals for religious education [2013 Building Team Award winner]
A renovation/addition project at Columbia Theological Seminary unites a historic residence hall with a modern classroom facility.
| Jun 11, 2013
Music/dance building supports sweet harmony [2013 Building Team Award winner]
A LEED Gold project enhances a busy Chicago neighborhood, meeting ambitious criteria for acoustical design and adaptability.
| Jun 11, 2013
Vertical urban campus fills a tall order [2013 Building Team Award winner]
Roosevelt University builds a 32-story tower to satisfy students’ needs for housing, instruction, and recreation.
| Jun 11, 2013
Building a better box: High-bay lab aims for net-zero [2013 Building Team Award winner]
Building Team cooperation and expertise help Georgia Tech create a LEED Platinum building for energy science.
| Jun 7, 2013
First look: University of Utah's ‘teaching hospital for law’
The University of Utah broke ground on its cutting-edge College of Law building, which will facilitate new approaches to legal education based on more hands-on learning and skills training.
| Jun 5, 2013
USGBC: Free LEED certification for projects in new markets
In an effort to accelerate sustainable development around the world, the U.S. Green Building Council is offering free LEED certification to the first projects to certify in the 112 countries where LEED has yet to take root.
