Crosswinds Arts and Science Middle School
MERIT AWARD
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PROJECT DESCRIPTION

A prototype for California 's new "Second to None" education guidelines, Diamond Ranch High School is designed with 120-student classroom clusters, giving a greater sense of personal attention and responsibility. The clusters surround a central courtyard, forming bar configurations for lower-division and upper-division classrooms.

Creating an environment that promotes relationships between students, teachers, administrators, and the community, the design of Diamond Ranch represents a successful integration of the building and the topography. To take advantage of the natural beauty of the site, we integrated the playfields and buildings into the surrounding hillside. The courtyards and walkways encourage student interaction while fostering a flexible learning community. The design accommodates the educational program of the school while demonstrating a lasting respect for nature and its preservation.

Data Owner East Metro Integration District 6067 Type of Facility Middle/junior high school Type of Construction New Area of Building Approximately 121,000 square feet Total Project Cost $17,414,000 Status of Project Completed November 2001

Credits Architect Cuningham Group Architecture, P.A. Minneapolis , MN Structural Engineer Clark Engineering Corporation Minneapolis , MN Mechanical Engineer Wentz Associates, Inc. Edina , MN Electrical Engineer Kaeding and Associates, Inc. Edina , MN

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• Size of school district, college, or client organization:
  The 10 member school districts making up this integration district together serve approximately 122,000 students.
• Population of community:
  The combined population of the 10 member districts served by this school is approximately 225,000 people.

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QUALITATIVE PROJECT DATA

• What were the three greatest challenges of this project?
  1. Working with a four-member teacher team that was also involved in developing a first-year curriculum for the school.
  2. Working without a known site during programming and conceptual school organization.
  3. Working without a firm budget while the state legislature determined funding for the school.
  
  
  
• What are the three most unusual features of the solution?
  1. Students are not based in classrooms but in homebases that consist of both open and enclosed spaces.
  2. There are no traditional labs. Instead, project/studio spaces are designed to accommodate disciplines such as science but are also flexible for other uses.
  3. The central heart of the school is an open performance area that also serves as an eating space for the school.
  
  
  
• What is the philosophy of the client? What process was used to establish the vision and goals for this project? Who was involved? How did the process affect the learning environment?
  In May 1998, a group of parents, educators, board members, and students met to create the educational vision for this interdistrict school. The philosophy of the school was to focus on the needs of young adolescents, to facilitate their transition by offering experiential learning that accommodates individual learning styles. The mission of Crosswinds is to [provide] opportunities for middle school students from urban and suburban districts to enhance achievement and experience diversity in a year-round education program.

  In September 1998, Crosswinds opened with 45 students and four teachers. In addition to writing curriculum, staff was asked to work with a committee of administrators, board members, parents, and community members to design a new school. The architects led the inclusive vision-based design process built on the educational planning work. The pre-design work not only established space relationships and sizes but also further defined the vision. Discussions centered on how the organization and environment would reflect the needs of middle school students.

  The architects also met with teachers to discuss in more detail the emerging program and how the building could aid project-based learning. Discussions included the importance of providing multiple learning settings and dissolving borders; incorporating flexible, quickly adaptable spaces; and creating a sense of place and learner identity.




• What goals or guiding design principles did the team establish to inform the design of the building? How is the building an expression of the philosophy and goals? What were the primary needs? How were those needs creatively accommodated? What method was used to verify that the design met the goals and provided for the needs? What is different and innovative about the learning environments in this project?
  Critical in the discussions were the needs, characteristics, and interests of middle school students. Needs included social interaction, acceptance, security, reassurance, and respect during this transitional time.

  To address these, the school created homebases to strengthen student/student and adult/student relationships. These groupings create a sense of belonging and allow a team of teachers to work with students for the three years they are at the school. Teachers are facilitators helping students work in nine-week project-based blocks built around a central, year-long theme. The vision was to create a place where kids want to be.

  As such, this school is anything but traditional. Unlike most schools, students have workstations. Students may personalize workstations to reflect who they are, just as a child might decorate his/her bedroom. The workstations are grouped in a team of 16-18 students (representative of a family). Two teams are centered around a resource area that includes a sink and hard surface flooring to accommodate project work. Similar to a family room, this resource area allows small groups to work together. The building is divided into six homebases of 100 students each; three teams make up each two-story homebase. Homebases are organized in pairs around the central heart of the school.




• How does this project exemplify excellence in design?
  This project reflects the vision for a middle school designed around experiential learning and the specific needs of the middle level learner. The educational planning and design efforts have teamed to make an exciting middle school students enjoy going to.

  How does being at this school change kids' lives? It is the dynamic connections between people that create the memorable experiences that shape kids. The goal was to create a holistic learning experience by providing opportunities for students to learn in the community and from community members in the building. The design of the building reflects these goals by providing multiple learning and performance environments.

  The success of the school can be measured by its desirability. As a school of choice, this program has become a popular option for students from the districts involved. There is a waiting list to attend, and parents are lobbying to extend the school to the 10th grade. It also receives many applications from student teachers.

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SPECIAL DESIGN CRITERIA

• How did the planning and design involve the larger community?
  This school community involved six districts during the planning process––each represented on the design committee by parents, administrators, teachers, community members, and school board members. The school's design is the direct result of working with this committee. Among the exercises designed to describe the essence of the school, design committee members created images of connections, colors, and movement: a cornucopia or horn of plenty made of DNA strands; a wheel of life based on a circle, a symbol connected to Native Americans to show diversity; a toolbox that allows students to explore and create; a collection of individual colored strands coming together to be braided into something new, symbolizing the transformation from childhood to young adulthood; a bridge that connects suburban and urban, arts and sciences, school and world, year-round and lifelong learning. These images and ideas were critical to the development of the school's design concept.



• Did the planning process include partnerships and, if so, how did those partnerships affect the design?
  The most important partnership was that of the six original districts that worked to create this school. This school actually started some time ago. In 1991, three districts built an interdistrict elementary school. In 1998, based on the success of that state-funded school, a goal of voluntary desegregation was extended to include planning for a new middle school. There are now 10 suburban and urban districts bringing students together. This partnership exemplifies a new approach to integrated learning––bringing urban students to a suburban setting and giving suburban students the opportunity to interact with urban students. The goal was to have connections in the curriculum create a holistic learning experience by integrating the arts and sciences into all learning, and providing opportunities for students to learn in the community and from community members who come to the building. Artists and scientists from the community are a part of the learning both at the school and in the community.



• What aspects of the client's goals and program shaped the project, and how does the design reflect those goals?
  All aspects of the client's goals shaped this project. The vision was to create a place where kids want to be, a place that looks like kids live there. Discussions with the design committee centered on how the organization and environment would reflect the needs of middle school students. Committee members described the physical environment by talking about physical attributes and metaphors: the home, with varying levels of privacy and community; an Italian hill town, with surprises around each corner and a sense of path and levels; an artists' colony or festival where booths attract visitors to come and look; a campfire surrounded by tents; a central town square where people gather. Common to these were the ideas of colorful, active, and enticing “shops” of different types, a central area off of which other events happen, and a discovery/display area combining arts and science. From this emerged the design of homebases centered on a school heart



• Describe different and effective uses of space for supporting learning.
  Each homebase shares a team of adults. Resources include central gathering/performance/project area; enclosed classroom for lecture-style learning; teachers' team room with professional workstations, refrigerator, and sink; storage; and a small group conference room for tutorial work. The central gathering area allows formal and informal gatherings for students to learn, perform, and socialize. Each homebase also has a flexible project lab, which is available to the whole school and contains resources such as stoves, woodworking equipment, kiln, and chemical hoods.

  In addition to homebases, the heart of the school is the central performance and gathering space. It is open and visible to the school community and not reserved for special performances. The design is intentionally casual and includes natural light. The space allows students to put on formal performances with rudimentary lighting and sound systems, but it is also available for day-to-day sharing of projects. In addition, the space functions as the cafeteria, allowing socialization across homebases. The “big build” project room opens directly to the space, allowing scenery/sets to move easily to the stage. There is also a lab with sewing areas for costume design.




• How does the design incorporate technology to enhance learning?
  Key components to the curriculum include using art and science to provide an interdisciplinary, theme-based curriculum that uses state-of-the-art technology. Curriculum and instruction, developed around brain-based learning research, actively engage students. The philosophy of the school is to focus on the needs of adolescents and to facilitate and develop their transition to adulthood by offering experiential learning that accommodates individual learning styles. Assessment is thus based on performance outcomes, including projects. Technology is a tool for students and is available in all learning locations. The use of personal laptops was anticipated during the design process.



• How does the design encourage lifelong learning?
  The vision for a middle school designed around experiential learning and the specific needs of middle-level learners has become a reality at this school. The educational planning and design efforts have teamed to make an exciting middle school where students enjoy going to school. The multi-aged homebases encourage teaming and mentoring among students, creating a supportive atmosphere that enables students to pursue their interests. Students are engaged and interested, a lesson that will serve them well throughout their lives.



• What aspects of the design responded to the surrounding physical and cultural context?
  The site provides numerous learning and physical activity areas. Located on a lake and adjacent to a city park, students use the natural environment year round. Each homebase has its own door to the outside, emphasizing its connection to the site. Students have access to wetlands to study water quality, as well as ball fields and cross-country ski trails near the lake. Students recently constructed wooden canoes that will be launched on the lake. During the school's design process there was an active partnership with the city to maintain and provide community access to the site and lake.

  Teachers facilitate and motivate students' work in project-based blocks built around a central, year-long theme that includes rural, urban, and suburban explorations. Artists and scientists from the community are part of the learning both at the school and in the community. The school helps facilitate this learning by providing spaces for visiting adults.




• How did the design fit into the existing context of neighborhood and community?
  The site, now surrounded by suburban housing, was once farmland, and the design concept grew from the site's history of rural structures and their connection to the land. The design accesses the many site amenities while preserving its natural qualities. Moreover, it blurs the edges between the city park and the school site; in the future, the city park trail system will link the school to the greater community. The building design reflects the massing and spatial qualities of Midwestern rural buildings, namely the voluminous barn: here you find a centralized form and function, surrounded by a collection of smaller specialized structures, all making use of one another and the land. To reinforce this metaphor and break down the building scale, different materials and forms are employed in the design. Together, site and building design refer to the suburban/rural relationship between buildings and landscape.



• How did the design respond to the climatic and topographical site constraints?
  Challenged by a site only one-third suitable for building given the existing natural habitat, including wetlands, the design response was guided by the rural balance between the built and natural environment. The response was a dense assemblage of structures sited to maintain the flow of the wetland across the site and to preserve the stand of old-growth oaks. From these structures, a number of implied and actual paths create connections to the sites.



• What creative use was made of materials and building systems?
  The building design reflects the desire for a non-traditional school environment. Overall, various materials and forms highlight programmatic functions and accentuate daylight. A curved metal roof over each homebase provides clerestory lighting. Its structure is of arched glu-lam beams and exposed metal deck over an open two-story space. This two-story volume allows greater student interaction and permits daylight to fall within the central area of each homebase.

  Natural finished materials are found throughout the school: cork display walls, Tectum sound panels, perforated stainless steel guardrails, and wood windows, doors, handrails, and display cases. Earth-toned floor coverings are patterned to accentuate the flow of people and reflect building forms. The saturated colors and natural materials, along with the abundance of daylight, create a warm and comfortable environment.




• Describe the strategies for passive and active energy efficiencies.
  The architect, conscious of both cost and conservation, worked with a local utility's energy assets program to establish cost-effective building systems that help reduce long-term energy use costs. Systems used in the project include a high-efficiency boiler, passive desiccant energy recovery units, premium efficiency pump motor, VAVs, daylight sensors, and operable windows for passive cooling and fresh air. Used year-round, the school is air-conditioned with forced air and heated with radiation heat.



• Describe other sustainable design materials, methods, or practices implemented in the project.
  The building reflects the nature of the school program by integrating building resources with the site's natural resources. The program at the school stresses the importance of connections to the outside environment and to the real world for learning opportunities. Enhancing physical connections to the exterior and bringing daylight into the spaces create a place of discovery for the school community. In addition, there is space for visiting artists and scientists in the building.



• How did the design minimize short-term and/or long-term maintenance?
  Native perennial plants and grasses, combined with minimal use of lawn grass (at entry court and play field only), minimize the site maintenance. The building's use of brick and metal panel ensure a durable, low-maintenance building exterior. Inside, dedicated mechanical spaces facilitate the short-term and long-term maintenance of the mechanical systems.



• If the project used existing building infrastructure, what imaginative design features evolved?
  Not applicable.



• How did the architect make a difference in making the project happen?
  The client and fiscal agent for this project have commented about how fortunate they were to hire this architect to design and manage this very complex project. They believe the depth of the architecture firm's staff was reflected in the depth of their understanding of the school program. The skill and raw design talent of the architect team enabled them to deliver a very different and exciting school.

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