Site Background

Located in the historic German Village, St. Mary Catholic School is an anchor to the community. The redesign of the elementary school aims to preserve that connection, while also updating the facility’s interior with modern concepts for the betterment of students’ education. This distinct project scheme will define a new edge of campus, while also unifying the character, vernacular, and landscape of St. Mary.

The project is a renovation of the existing elementary school along Third Street, with an addition extending the school into the rear parking lot. Elements from the primary face of the Heritage Hall addition stems from extensive research on the profiles of the surrounding vernacular. A singular primary entrance of the building is to be added at the northwest side of the building as a controlled access point to ensure safety of the students.

BUILDING ORGANIZATION

As a response to the constrained site, the addition expands the existing elementary school around the historic [150 year old] Rectory and into a rear parking lot. As part of MKC Architect’s design, the front yard is enlivened with a combination of passive and active play spaces for children, while still maintaining its historically open elevation along a primary viaduct leading into Downtown Columbus.

THE HUB

At the center of the school is a place MKC has endearingly named ‘The Hub.’ Located at the center of the school, and spanning both floors, The Hub is a collaborative and inspiring area where students read, learn and grow as St. Mary students. Shelving for library books, tables for collaboration, and technology for various types of media will be housed between dedicated circulation space on the second floor. Within this media center are myriad spaces that vary in size, configuration, and activity - however, their purpose is the same: to assembly large amounts of people for the dissemination of knowledge. These 21st-century gathering spaces have the ability to adapt into less formal gathering areas. These spaces also serve to display work, projects, and accomplishments of the student body. Moveable display cases, mounting boards, and track lights allow what has traditionally been a static [and often unused space] into a lively and transformation hub of activity. Rather than located along the periphery, these spaces are centrally located - students have to walk-thru them to access other spaces within the school.

THE YELLOW STAIR

The Yellow Stair is a sculptural element within the heart of St Mary Elementary School that provides function while also promoting immersion and creativity. Active functionality includes stairs, a bookshelf, and a workstation, while passive functionality includes immersion/experience, wayfinding, and color theory.

The incorporated sculptural piece utilizes a yellow solid surface and yellow-painted walls and canopy to envelope the visitor. The half wall at the top of the stair serves as a protective barrier, while also allowing visual connections to different parts of the Hub. The color washed surfaces engage users on multiple-planes, encouraging peering up, down, over through, and around.

Catching a glimpse of bright yellow at the base of the stair and bench in the lobby, you are pulled in towards the stair to discover more. Upon walking up, the stair exudes beauty, delight, and whimsy by providing a sensory experience, engulfing the viewer in a bright yellow color. The color yellow, typically a symbol of joy, cheerfulness, energy, and creativity, radiates warmth when you enter into the Hub space on the second floor [especially with the light pouring in from adjacent skylights]. The recessed handrail acts a part of the sensory experience, illuminating your path with a glowing LED light. The light highlights the geometry of the handrail, while also brightening the space and welcoming visitors.

CLASSROOM ORGANIZATION

Lacking in the existing school organization were appropriate spaces dedicated to the arts, science, and multi-disciplinary spaces for peer-to-peer learning. As such, scheme completely reorganizes the interior of the school to provide extended learning spaces such as The Hub. The subsequent result, however, are smaller classrooms. MKC Architects developed numerous test schemes of classrooms with distinct areas for multiple types of programming – optimized for use using versatile and adaptable furniture and equipment.

The colors in each classroom help to create identity throughout the school by providing a different color for each grade level. Many of these identifying colors create an accent wall at the front of the classroom on the same wall as the teaching board, provide an activated area of focus. The desks and tables chosen for the classrooms are all able to be reconfigured per the teacher’s daily lessons.

The carpeted zones of the classrooms also act as a safety zone in case of an emergency intruder drill; the students are able to go to these areas and stay out of the vision of the door sidelights. As an additional safety measure, the windows that replaced the existing storefronts on the Third Street façade now include an emergency operable window in case of an intruder or fire. Because it is an existing school, ceiling heights are a precious resource. To prevent new HVAC from lowering all ceilings, there is a lowered grid at the entrance of each classroom, allowing the larger part of the classroom to have higher cloud ceilings.

EXTENDED LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

For students, the corridor becomes a conduit for social interaction and a place where new friendships are forged. We have designed the corridors at St Mary school to include a series of formal and informal meeting spaces to supplement the classrooms as learning spaces. These extended learning areas also break down the scale of the building to create familiar environments and act as wayfinding devices. These areas include gather & display, huddle spaces, and group-meet spaces, each designed for different size groups to engage learning in a variety of ways.

The group-meet rooms are designed for a varied level of privacy, in order to provide a sense of focus as needed when meeting inside the rooms. The graphic number cutouts are at an adult eye level; therefore, if the door is closed, an adult can look inside and see that someone is using the room, and then not disturb them. This height also deters students from becoming distracted when they are meeting for tutoring or counseling sessions.

Things like acoustic wall/ceiling panels, soft seating, and baffles provide auditory dimming to further provide a sense of focus.

Every inch was designed for a purpose in the small footprint, so above each of the hallway nooks are cabinets for the teachers to store things like their extra books, off-season teaching resources, and decorations. The Hub’s bookshelves also act as a shared resource for storing books that the teacher’s might not need to regularly keep in the classroom.

HERITAGE HALL

During the pre-design process, a study was conducted to observe the motifs of the vernacular of German Village [see figure-grounds to the right]. Some of the motifs found included gable rooves, brick materials, symmetry, small and stacked recangular windows, arched openings, and more.

The gothic arch is found in many locations throughout German Village, but especially at the on-campus St Mary Church. The stained glass at the front of the Heritage Hall addition gracefully alludes to this motif, with a schoolhouse-like profile that fits right in with the neighborhood.

The stained-glass itself was a recycled piece that came from another church out of state. The profile had to be mildly trimmed down, but in the end, it perfectly fit the proportions of the addition niche. Several things help to protect the glass, such as the illuminated bollards, a storefront layer, an interior protective layer up to 5ft, and an interior linear light strip channel at the base of the window. Inside the Hall, two skylights reside just over the stained glass, which provide a striking stream of light or natural glow down the niche. The addition of Heritage Hall and Our Lady of Guadalupe Hall will not only serve as the students’ new cafeteria during the day, but will also serve as a space for Parish events, private events, weddings, and community events.