Mahlum Architects Inc.

Wilkes Elementary School

Wilkes Elementary School
© Jeremy Bittermann

WILKES ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Mahlum

ARCHITECTS
Mahlum

AREA
64450 ft²

YEAR
2012

CATEGORY
Elementary & Middle School

LOCATION
Bainbridge Island, United States

ACOUSTICAL AND AV
SSA Acoustics

STRUCTURAL
PCS Structural Solutions

FOOD SERVICE
Bundy & Associates

CIVIL ENGINEERING
2020 Engineering

COST ESTIMATOR
Rider Levett Bucknell

GEOTECHNICAL
Associated Earth Sciences

GENERAL CONTRACTOR
Spee West Construction

MANUFACTURERS
Designtex, Formica, Lutron, Andersen Windows & Doors, Camira, Ceco Door, Chicago Faucets, Color Kinetics, CornellCookson, Daltile, EFCO, Elkay, Fatboy, Forbo Flooring Systems, GE Lighting, Hubbell, Karastan, Kim Lighting, Kohler, Ligman Lighting, +25

MECHANICAL, ELECTRICAL & PLUMBING
ARUP

LANDSCAPE
Cascade Design Collaborative

Brain research shows that play and learning are inextricably intertwined; that play is a central ingredient in the development of academic skills, school readiness, and school performance. Typical schools isolate one from the other, clearly defining times and places that each should occur independently.

Wilkes Elementary School
© Jeremy Bittermann
Wilkes Elementary School
© Benjamin Benschneider

This physical and temporal separation has devalued play in America: more than 30,000 schools have dropped recess; between 1997 and 2003, outdoor play fell 50%; in the last 20 years, children have lost over 8 hours of discretionary playtime per week.

By interweaving social and educational spaces, the new Wilkes Elementary School challenges this deplorable practice. The design for Wilkes embraces visual and physical connectivity so that learning can happen everywhere.

Wilkes Elementary School
© Benjamin Benschneider
Wilkes Elementary School
© Benjamin Benschneider

Through transparency, the needs of the whole child are addressed: physical limitations to educational opportunities are removed, a range of learning styles are supported, and lines between where learning or play can occur are blurred.

The functional arrangement fosters collaboration and creates opportunities for variation in scales of learning – from multi-classroom gatherings to intimate individual experiences.

Wilkes Elementary School
© Benjamin Benschneider
Wilkes Elementary School
© Benjamin Benschneider

Within the school, Wilkes’s 450 students experience a seamless transition from classrooms to interior and exterior shared learning spaces. Glazing reinforces connectivity between classrooms and interior shared learning areas, and with the courtyards beyond.

The size and composition of each learning space varies in response to the developmental needs of students to complement the school’s personalized and ability-based curriculum. In this way, the school supports dynamic teaching and independent learning that increases student accountability.

Wilkes Elementary School
© Benjamin Benschneider
Wilkes Elementary School
© Jeremy Bittermann

A large covered area at the entry encourages community involvement by supporting casual interactions as parents drop off and pick up students.

This entry feeds into the main public corridor, which provides convenient access to the library, music room, commons and community gymnasium, making Wilkes the largest public building, and new cultural hub, for the north end of the island.

Wilkes Elementary School
© Jeremy Bittermann
Wilkes Elementary School
Floor Plan

With a strong community ethos as caretakers of the land, sustainable design elements are integrated throughout the new school to minimize the building’s environmental impact and operating costs, while maximizing the benefit to teaching and learning.

Sustainable strategies include 100% on-site stormwater infiltration, an innovative large on-site septic system (L.O.S.S) to treat 100% of waste water on site, 100% porous paving, and heat recovery.

A hybrid heating system comprising forty geo-thermal wells and a water-to-water heat pump with electric boiler assist is anticipated to be 40% more efficient than a baseline elementary school system.

Student- and community-owned garden beds within the playground support a programmatic partnership between Wilkes and a nearby working farm. Interior spaces benefit from non-toxic finish materials, operable windows, natural cooling, and radiant floors that increase thermal comfort in the zone where students sit and play.

Wilkes Elementary School
Floor Plan

Mahlum Architects Inc.
T +1 206 4414151 F +1 206 8161056
Mahlum Architects Inc.
1932 1st Ave Floor 3, Seattle, WA 98101, United States