Aaron Cohn Middle School

Our design team utilized challenging site topography to site the overall layout of the school and associated site elements in effort to establish sustainable principles to achieve LEED Certification. The middle school is also sited to allow for ease of expansion of the tree-story classroom wing and additional playing fields. The school contains an abundance of technology that is now commonplace in twenty-first century high-performance schools.

Our team and the MCSD facilities team worked together to develop a school that met LEED principals in an inspiring manner while also supporting educational process. An efficient classroom wing is tethered to the remainder of the school via a glass clad lobby that allows administration to have a presence at the front door and to other educational components. The classroom wing is oriented to allow for north-south natural light into the classrooms. Other programmatic elements such as art, technology sciences, and the cafeteria are also light filled due to large window openings that are strategically placed. We utilized a palette of materials common in the area. Red brick, horizontal ribbed metal panel, storefront, and exposed steel clad the exterior of a form that reflects many local structures.