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BESSIE COLEMAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Bessie Coleman Elementary School was built on the existing site of Hoover and Lincoln Elementary School in Corvallis, OR. Initially, it was the School District’s goal that a prototype design would be used to serve both school sites. Through an extensive collaborative design process, however, it became clear that a prototype would not meet all the requirements of the school district and the users of each facility. It was determined that a better and more realistic option was to create a “kit of parts” for both schools. In effect, the key spaces in each school are intended to be identical, but the overall grouping of these spaces would vary to reflect the distinctive features of each school. The basic concept of the centralized butterfly scheme is three wings of program surrounding an open centralized common area. The internalized commons is the communal gathering point between three bars of programmed space and acts as the heart of the school. Site connectivity, entrances, and service points occur between the bars and change from Lincoln to Bessie Coleman, giving each building its own identity through a similar space organization. Each replacement will be two stories, measuring approximately 64,000 sf, and designed to serve a capacity of 500 students from K-5.

Despite the site differences, both new schools will benefit from improvements to stormwater management, hard and soft surface play, covered play, an entry plaza, outdoor learning area, and new vehicular circulation including parent and buss drop off. The building is organized so that public areas are located closest to the entry to encourage community use after school hours. Classrooms are oriented on an east-west axis, affording maximum exposure for daylighting on the north and south of the building. Classrooms are clustered in pods to create a sense of community for students and share learning within grades. Each pod consists of three classrooms and one shared collaborative zone.

Role

Involved from Schematic Design through Construction Documents, occasionally helping with Construction Administration. This project finished construction in fall of 2021. Produced renderings, walk through video, community presentations, design drawings, coordinated with consultants.