Context:
The staggering presence of San Gorgonio Mountain and the San Bernardino Mountain Range create a vibrant and beautiful landscape above the City of Calimesa.
With adjusted building heights, slopes, and sharp angles, the mass of the buildings implies the movement and mimics characteristics of the site’s natural context.
Furthermore, every piece of the school environment is designed specifically to the size of this age group. It was important to limit the building’s footprint and scale to make the environment more approachable for K-8 students.
Program/Scope/ Budget:
The 90,621 SF single-story campus will serve 1,166 students in grades TK-8 at full capacity. Incorporated in the plans for this new K-8 school are six (6) TK/kindergarten classrooms, two (2) flex labs, thirty-two (32) standard classrooms with shared flex space, four (4) special education classrooms, a student learning center, a multipurpose room and administration space.
With the sensitive approach to materials and construction budget, the building utilizes rectilinear and rational geometry. Similar building materials and assemblies are applied throughout with highlighted accent color and different details.
Special Challenges/ Solution:
Special Education Inclusion is a state mandated requirement, but implementing it proved to be quiet challenging.
Summerwind Trails is the first campus within the district that offers close adjacency of these programs to the rest of the classrooms and student body. This model will serve as an incubator for other district campuses.
The district had a strong desire, rather than isolating students with special needs in a stand-alone program tailored to their needs, to integrate special education programs throughout the school allowing students to integrate with other students/classes as they are able, and receive special services as needed without losing access to other programs.
This meant designing access to all school spaces for those with visual, audio, and orthopedic challenges, and integrating storage space for the adaptive equipment required by many of these students.
Design Approach and Goals:
Teaching pedagogies used in the district reflect the latest research and successful practices currently in place in the educational community. Specific methods employed are adjusted to meet the needs of the individual student.
Examples of the most commonly used methods include:
• Large group lecture and discussion
• Cooperative learning groups
• Activities that encourage investigation and discovery
• Laboratory groups
• Individual, small group, flexible classroom groupings
• Inclusion/equal access for special needs and second language learners
• Large groups - combined classes or a “house” comprised of two to six classes
• Supervised spaces to encourage mentorship between different grade levels
Provisions are made to support large-group as well as small-group instruction, traditional pencil and paper activities, and the development and use of multimedia research and instructional presentations. |
