information from Seattle Public Schools
When you walk inside Arbor Heights School, you find a 89,000 square foot, preK-5 school designed to not just accommodate 660 students, but foster connections between each one of those students, the community, and the natural environment while pioneering Seattle Public Schools’ (SPS) Environmental Science Technology Engineering Math (E-STEM) program. The building houses four small learning communities intentionally crafted to focus on 21st century learning and innovation. Each curve and corner supports Abor Heights’ education philosophy and values of the school community, including open-shared learning spaces featuring an IDEA lab, collaboration and project-based learning.
The district is growing at a rapid rate. Seattle Public Schools is opening five new school building this fall and 95 new classrooms. The new Arbor Heights building was funded by the $694.9 million dollar Building Excellence IV Capital Levy. The Levy was approved by over 72 percent of Seattle voters in February 2013 and reflects the district’s and community’s commitment to educational excellence.
WHEN: Tuesday, September 6, 2016, 11 a.m.
WHERE: Arbor Heights Elementary School
3701 SW 104th St., Seattle WA, 98106
Sixteen members of the School Design Advisory Team, including SPS staff members, parents and neighbors, helped design every square foot of the school to engage students in their own education. Their theme: “Environmental Learning from Sea to Sky”. The result of their work: the building, itself, fosters opportunities for students to cultivate 21st century skills (e.g. collaboration, innovation) and creates successful conditions for the E-STEM program. It is more than just a building, is a critical component to realizing the vision of the E-STEM school community. .
Outside, playfields, the running track, covered play area, raised bed planters, storm water cisterns, a sundial, an in-ground slide, educational signage, nature engagement areas, and outdoor classrooms encourage physical activity, casual and structured play, social interaction, and outdoor learning.
Inside, Learning Communities are intentionally designed to provide a personalized learning environment for the E-STEM program. Each has five classrooms organized around an Open Learning Area, a Group Study Room, and an Idea Lab where students will collaborate to bring ideas to life. All of them are interconnected to provide a highly adaptable and robust environment for hands-on and project-based learning in art, science, and technology.
Sustainability is also embedded in the design and used as building-based learning examples: simple, energy-efficient building forms; windows oriented for optimum solar exposure and views; sun shades to control daylight; south-facing roofs for future solar panels; rain gardens for stormwater management; rainwater catchers, exposed rainwater discharge, and above-ground cisterns; large illustrative graphics and ecosystem-themed learning communities; natural cooling and user-controlled ceiling fans; LED lighting throughout; automatic sensors and controls that turn off power and lights; and a “guts-out” approach that showcases the building’s structure and systems. Finally, a video-screen dashboard allows the building’s energy-usage to be monitored by staff and students, once again leveraging the building design to enhance learning.
The result is a school that sought from the outset to provide a cost- and energy-efficient design that is highly flexible, durable, and sustainable and supports the educational philosophy of the school and values of the community.
