South-West Middle School, located in Quincy, Mass., is a $58 million, 96,000-sf facility meant to “usher in the next generation of learning.”
The building features collaborative learning spaces, a media center, gymnasium, music and art rooms, administrative offices, a cafe, and an auditorium. STEM circulation zones encourage project-based learning and an open floor plan and glass walls create a synergetic environment. The glass walls are equipped with an electrified film that turns it opaque with the flip of a switch, making it impossible to see who is inside a classroom, an added safety measure in the event of a lockdown.
“Building off the growing trend of innovative and modernized schools, the light-filled spaces and technology-rich classrooms allow this new building to facilitate a high-quality of student engagement for the next generation of learning,” said Robert Murray, BOND (the project’s general contractor) President.
See Also: COX Architecture and Zaha Hadid Architects will design the Western Sydney Airport
Because the new school is being built directly behind the old school, BOND used the opportunity to facilitate classroom learning sessions with South-West Middle School students to coincide with project milestones and STEM curriculum. A student-led Junior Building Committee met with BOND employees, went on hardhat tours of the site, wrote reports, and shared updates with their classmates and the school’s website throughout the construction process.
The school welcomed its first students for the 2019 school year.
Related Stories
| Jun 16, 2014
6 U.S. cities at the forefront of innovation districts
A new Brookings Institution study records the emergence of “competitive places that are also cool spaces.”
| Jun 12, 2014
Zaha Hadid's 'gravity defying' Issam Fares Institute opens in Beirut
The design builds upon the institute’s mission as a catalyst and connector between AUB, researchers and the global community.
| Jun 12, 2014
Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects' design selected for new UCSC facility
The planned site is a natural landscape among redwood trees with views over Monterey Bay, a site that the architects have called “one of the most beautiful they have ever worked on.”
| Jun 12, 2014
Austrian university develops 'inflatable' concrete dome method
Constructing a concrete dome is a costly process, but this may change soon. A team from the Vienna University of Technology has developed a method that allows concrete domes to form with the use of air and steel cables instead of expensive, timber supporting structures.
| Jun 11, 2014
David Adjaye’s housing project in Sugar Hill nears completion
A new development in New York's historic Sugar Hill district nears completion, designed to be an icon for the neighborhood's rich history.
| Jun 9, 2014
6 design strategies for integrating living and learning on campus
Higher education is rapidly evolving. As we use planning and design to help our clients navigate major shifts in culture, technology, and funding, it is essential to focus on strategies that help foster an education that is relevant after graduation. One way to promote relevance is to strengthen the bond between academic disciplines and the campus residential life experience.
| Jun 9, 2014
Green Building Initiative launches Green Globes for Sustainable Interiors program
The new program focuses exclusively on the sustainable design and construction of interior spaces in nonresidential buildings and can be pursued by both building owners and individual lessees of commercial spaces.
| Jun 9, 2014
10 projects named 2014 AIA Small Project Award winners
Yale's funky new Ground café and a pavilion made from 53,780 recycled plastic bottles are among the nation's best new small projects.
| May 29, 2014
7 cost-effective ways to make U.S. infrastructure more resilient
Moving critical elements to higher ground and designing for longer lifespans are just some of the ways cities and governments can make infrastructure more resilient to natural disasters and climate change, writes Richard Cavallaro, President of Skanska USA Civil.
Sponsored | | May 27, 2014
Grim Hall opens the door to fire safety with fire-rated ceramic glass
For the renovation of Lincoln University’s Grim Hall life sciences building into a state-of-the-art computer facility, Tevebaugh Associates worked to provide students and faculty with improved life safety protection. Updating the 1925-era facility's fire-rated doors was an important component of the project.
