Charles City School Board sees schematic design for new middle school

CHARLES CITY | Architects presented a schematic design for a new Charles City Middle School that includes learning spaces of various sizes, an outdoor classroom and an amphitheater to the school board on Monday evening.

The design for the $17.6 million building to be constructed at the current high school campus also includes a competition gym with seating for 1,800 people that could be used for high school athletics and a commons area with a "treehouse" -- a series of glass-enclosed areas on either side of the staircase between the first and second floors.

Sam Johnson from BLDD Architects cautioned the board the schematic design phase "is the honeymoon phase" and some hard choices will need to be made before bids are taken.

The building design includes a lot of glass to let in natural daylight, even in the gym.

The learning spaces range from 150 square feet for a semi-enclosed "cave," where up to three students can work together, to 2,800 square feet for the collaborative commons area. There also are 1,200-square-foot exploratory and design labs and smaller lecture spaces and labs, including a media lab.

Jeff Johnson of BLDD said the treehouse could be a "hangout spot" for students but it also could be another learning space.

He said teachers have been involved in the design from the beginning.

Jean Underwood of BLDD noted students also gave the firm their ideas in May.

Jeff Johnson said the design lends itself to exciting learning projects, such as having students do their own talk show in which they would be producers, presenters, stage designers and technicians.

He said the overall design concept for the new school "reinvents education as you know it."

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Charles City School Board sees schematic design for new middle school