The involvement of the district’s Educational Services staff has been an instrumental resource in ensuring students’ needs are met. Meetings were held to vet the spaces outlined in IUSD’s high school educational specifications. After analyzing the ed specs—which identify unique spaces, including flexible spaces to support collaboration and technology—the design team developed and presented the district and stakeholders with a range of design solutions, and then together they tailored the solutions to the high school. For example, collaboration, which is one of IUSD’s core values, had a great influence on the school’s design. Student commons rooms are located between classroom wings and will act as flexible space to encourage and facilitate different needs including project-based learning, one-on-one instruction, multi-class presentations and small-group instruction. The design team created numerous cross-disciplinary staff development opportunities by locating teacher prep/collaboration rooms strategically between classroom wings and on each classroom level.

The buildings are organized to create areas for informal gathering, dining and studying to achieve the district’s goal of creating environments where learning happens everywhere. The learning environment extends outward from the classroom and collaboration areas and into the campus quads. The south quad is flanked by classroom buildings and has an elevated walkway that connects all of the buildings’ second levels. The north quad is surrounded by music, dance and dining services. In the heart of the campus, between these quads, are the administration and student union buildings. The student union resembles the type of campus center one might find on a college campus. It includes a technology rich Innovation Lab and is paired with the learning commons (library space) that provides valuable flex space for individual and group study/collaboration, indoor dining and various other functions.

This high-performance architecture reflects its specific context, seamlessly integrating form and function to support health, learning and the natural environment. High-performance elements include: optimal daylighting, high performance glass, acoustic performance, durable and easy to maintain materials, hybrid natural ventilation, right sized building mechanical systems that operate at maximum efficiency and storm water management. Additionally, the project features a smart green roof that is passively cools the building during the summer through the use of thermal mass coupled with natural ventilation.