The new Southwest Junior High School in Springdale Arkansas was designed around a question – rather than simply having a library, can a school be a library? A simple move to bring the media center out from behind 4 walls not only emphasizes learning as the core purpose of school, but it also created dramatic architectural opportunities to elevate students’ and staff’s expectations of what school can be. Behind this simple formulation were hours of collaborative workshops with teachers and administrators, student and staff surveys and interviews. Out of this process several priorities stood out. Students and staff had spoken vividly about how their campus felt inferior to others in the district and region, and that lack of pride spilled over into student behavior, morale, and achievement. Secondly, we heard that the community and students regularly used the outdoor space and insisted on preserving the mature oak trees on site. These themes coincided with our education studio’s philosophy to create usable outdoor spaces and dynamic interior learning spaces.
The execution of the new design on a compact site presented intense logistical challenges. The existing school needed to remain open to students throughout the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years while the new building was under construction. Working closely with the construction management team from Baldwin & Shell, and district leadership, WDD Architects’ team proposed a phased demolition and construction schedule that ultimately met the district’s needs and allowed the new school to open on time in August of 2024.
After a year in the new building, the positive response from the students, staff, and administration confirmed the validity of the initial design goals. Staff have testified to a culture change within the school, which has now become a source of student and community pride. Administrators have also shared that disciplinary incidents have decreased substantially from day one in the new building.
