Roosevelt and Jackson Elementary Schools

1. 2010 Exhibition of School Planning and Architecture Roosevelt and Jackson Elementary Schools Medford, Oregon Elementary Project of Distinction Opsis Architecture

2. Roosevelt and Jackson Elementary Schools

3. Roosevelt and Jackson Elementary Schools Roosevelt Elementary Jackson Elementary

4. Community Centers Community Environment: The community members were active advocates for retaining the original schools’ inviting atmosphere. The schools’ massing and roof forms were broken down into smaller elements, reflecting the surrounding residential architecture. Brick details, precast and metal trim and bay windows create an intimate texture and civic quality that recalls the original historic schools.

5. School Commons: Heart and Hearth of the School IMAGE Community Environment: The School Commons serves as the main entry way and a meeting place for students, parents and staff, bringing the whole school together into a single community. Movable display panels and flat screens create places for students to show their work. Tiered risers create informal seating or a stage for small school events.

6. Project Commons Spaces: Small Learning Communities Learning Environment: The design for innovative learning focuses on small learning communities consisting of learning studios that are connected by Project Commons spaces. The Project Commons spaces function with high transparency, “owned” by teachers in the surrounding classrooms. Where possible, these Project Commons Spaces open to outdoor learning spaces.

7. The Learning Studio: The Classroom Redefined Learning Environment: Each learning studio supports a wide range of learning modes. Bay windows create reading nooks and computer corners bring technology directly into the classroom. Each studio is open through transparent, but acoustically isolated walls to the shared project commons spaces. Windows and indirect natural light from the project commons bring in abundant and natural light.

8. Bringing the Classroom Outside Physical Environment: The neighborhood setting of the school required thoughtful integration of outdoor environment. Early in the planning process, we identified nine specific intelligence types, including bodily kinesthetic and naturalist. The design incorporates the entire site within the learning environment, integrating indoor and outdoor spaces, instead of separating them.

9. Natural Connections Physical Environment: Through extensive daylighting and transparency, the outdoor environment is often accessible and visually stimulating for students. Outdoor spaces with tables are used as classrooms, and the garden area and pond provide hands-on learning opportunities.

10. Collaborative Programming Planning Process: We developed a highly collaborative programming process with all stakeholder groups that pushed the community to “think outside the box” to the fundamentals of teaching and learning, unencumbered by the preconceptions of what a school should look like. The resulting program was used as a benchmark to test a series of alternatives for partial or full demolition of the existing structures.

11. Working from the Inside Out Planning Process: The least cost/highest program accommodation concept renovated the 1940s classroom wing while demolishing and rebuilding the remainder of the facilities. This “student-centered” approach fully engaged the stakeholders to think beyond the old schools and focus on the fundamentals of students’ and community needs.

12. Floor plan – Level 1 Jackson Elementary School

13. Floor plan – Level 2 Jackson Elementary School

14. Floor plan – Level 1 Roosevelt Elementary School

15. Floor plan – Level 2 Roosevelt Elementary School

16. Exhibition of School Planning and Architecture 2010 Project Data

17. Exhibition of School Planning and Architecture 2010 Project Details

18. Supporting/Supplemental files/Images