Drawing inspiration from the cultural fabric of Northern Ontario and the school’s religious teachings, our addition to this elementary school incorporates symbolic views to the sky and uplifting communal areas that encourage opportunities for student and community connection.

Our extensive work at Pope Francis Elementary School in Timmins, Ontario included a 15,500-sf addition that houses a lobby, a library, and classrooms as well as upgrades to the existing 23,400-sf elementary school and affiliated YMCA Child Care Centre. Ultimately, we doubled the size of the existing school by building a two-storey addition to the single-storey portion of the existing school and bridging that single storey to connect the second floors of both buildings. This required the strategic demolition and underpinning of the existing lower floor as well as coordinating the existing mechanical systems with the new system.

The building is organized in a radial plan, with three distinct wings extending from a central core that accommodates space for the kindergarten play areas. We undertook the strategic reconstruction and reorientation of the school’s main entrance and reorganized the overall site plan to improve the way the school interfaces with the neighbouring community and accommodates bus laybys.