LOCATION
Greenville, Ohio
COMPLETION
2016
SCOPE
New Build
Greenville Elementary and Middle School, located in Greenville, Ohio is a two-story, 231,386 sf building designed by Garmann Miller to consolidate four existing elementary and middle school buildings dispersed throughout the District. Completed in December of 2016, the Elementary and Middle School is situated on a 62-plus acre site on the north end of the city just off State Route 121. The campus, which also includes multiple athletic fields, playgrounds and a storage building, is surrounded by residential neighborhoods.
Numerous gable and hip roof areas are supported at varying heights by a combination of masonry bearing and steel frame construction, housing academic classrooms, art rooms, music rooms, two media centers and three gymnasiums used to educate approximately 1,800 students from kindergarten through eighth grade.
In order to ease the initial public concern of combining the Elementary School and Middle School, the Elementary School is located on one side of the building while the Middle School is located on the other. There is one central, secure entrance to the building that opens into two administrative offices, which support the Elementary School and Middle School respectively. The central spine of the building houses the common spaces to each school, notably a large barrel-arched atrium, two performance gymnasiums, the student dining area and the mutli-purpose stage that opens to both a gymnasium and the student dining area. On each side of this central community spine are multiple music rooms and art rooms uniquely designed for both the Elementary School and Middle School respectively.
Academic classrooms in each grade level are clustered around an extended learning area that allows flexibility in the learning environments through the implementation of several operable wall partitions, which can separate classrooms into a variety of different configurations. Similarly, the loose furnishings in all the classrooms allow multiple configurations for collaborative, student-led learning or traditional instruction. On the opposite side of the extended learning areas are teacher preparation rooms that allow the grade level staff to collaborate among their peers. Large-group restrooms, individual staff restrooms and storage rooms complete the center of the pods. The two media centers, associated computer labs and special education classrooms, for both the Elementary School and Middle School, are located between each of the grade-level academic classroom pods. The concept with each of these pods is to minimize the distance of travel throughout the building for all the students and staff.
With a focus on enhancing the environment for learning and minimizing building operating costs, the project includes sustainable features such as daylight glazing, a high efficiency HVAC system, outdoor learning labs, durable material selections and water-efficient equipment and fixtures. The District’s investment in geothermal technology, terrazzo floors and a standing seam metal roof will save them on energy and maintenance costs for years to come. Each of these features and many others contribute to the project’s achievement of LEED for Schools v2009 Gold Certification.
