Speaking thirty-three languages, the Phillip G. Coburn Elementary School serves a diverse student population. Organized around a central daylit corridor, the school celebrates its community by displaying the homeland of each student on a magnetic wall map. The design locates the administration, Welcome Center, and English Language Learners suite near the entrance. The Welcome Center has space to engage with families, address housing insecurity and food scarcity, and provide informational materials about West Springfield in multiple languages.
Educational program spaces support different learning modalities, individual and group instruction, physical activity, long-term projects, discussion and problem-solving, collaboration between pupils, and group presentation. The school includes a high school-sized gymnasium, a cafeteria designed to accommodate three lunch waves and a stage that could support either the gym or the cafeteria. The organization of spaces, furniture, and technology is flexible to accommodate future needs. Classrooms are clustered by grade level, and spaces for students with disabilities are available throughout the school.
The school’s exterior relates to the residential scale of its neighborhood. The design modulates between a civic or monumental scale and a smaller, more intimate scale appropriate for elementary school students. Multiple larger assembly spaces, such as the gym, café, music room, and auxiliary gym, are securely available for community use after hours.
The Coburn school consolidated three programs: the K-8 alternative program, the PreK students for a neighboring school, and the PreK-5 Coburn students. All previously attended school in separate school buildings. The feasibility study determined that bringing these programs together would increase town efficiencies and relieve overcrowding in the district.
Dietz & Company Architects, Inc.
LEED Silver Certified
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