Dickinson Middle School is a 200,000-SF education facility designed to engage 960 students in grades 6 through 8. The school district wanted a master facilities plan to deliver 21st century learning environments. DLR Group engaged staff and stakeholders to design a school that would meet the needs of individual students by encouraging opportunities for self-discovery and collaboration.
The evolving nature of education and subject matter demanded spatial transformation and reconfiguration through an innovative system of spatial boundaries. The walls open and slide, each configuration resizing the learning area in multiple directions. While the edges of each academic cluster are defined, peer groups of 120 students and four teachers can explore the curriculum together, or individually. Flexibility in the clusters allows teachers and students to adjust their environment to support more active pedagogies.
A large student commons area serves primarily as the student cafeteria, but can act as a multi-function space for school and community events; a forum incorporates theatrical lighting and rigging and can serve as a large lecture and performance space. Music and physical education programs are grouped together with the commons and forum spaces in a specially zoned wing for after-hours community use. A series of encore rooms throughout the core of the building accommodate specialty classes such as art, drafting, or consumer science, and may be adapted as programs are changed or added. Classrooms for special education and language arts are located with staff offices and other building support spaces in the core of the building.
Technology across the campus is ubiquitous, with segments of presentation walls distributed throughout each academic cluster to anchor the space. Decentralized media offers curriculum-focused distribution of materials as needed to support the staff and students.Natural light – integral to effective learning – is integrated through direct and indirect strategies, depending upon the configuration.
DLR Group provided architecture; mechanical, electrical, structural engineering; and interior design services.
Material Used :
1. Wells Concrete – Precast Architectural Concrete
2. Arconic – Metal Composite Material Wall Panels –Face Fastened Solution for Reynobond Panels
3. Firestone Building Products – EPDM Roofing – Dens-Deck Prime
4. Firestone Building Products – Sheet Metal Flashing and Trim - Kynar 500-Hylar 5000 Pre-Finished Aluminum Architectural Sheet & Coil
5. Crossville – Ceramic Tile – Cross-Colors Mingles
6. USG – Acoustical Panel Ceiling – Eclipse ClimaPlus Illusions
