Charter Oak School Architects Share Conceptual Designs

WEST HARTFORD An architectural firm on Wednesday presented and sought reaction on three conceptual designs for the future Charter Oak International Academy at a public meeting held at the school.

The three options were developed after the Perkins Eastman firm held meetings to gather input from parents, teachers and faculty members, students and the community regarding the $44.6 million project.

The town plans to build the new 86,000-square-foot school, a much larger building, in an effort to draw more students and correct racial imbalances at the town's two magnet schools: Charter Oak, an International Baccalaureate school, and Smith STEM School; STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math.

The new school, to be built on the Charter Oak property, is expected to cost the town between $9 million and $16.65 million, after reimbursement from the state under diversity school legislation.

The first concept, nicknamed the "pathway scheme" by the architects, is an L-shaped, linear building situated along Flatbush Avenue. The design includes groups of classrooms along a corridor with the administrative offices and a "learning commons" near the main entrance. The gymnasium, cafeteria and auditorium were grouped together along one hallway.

The second possibility the "village scheme" features clusters for different groups within the school, which architect Mark McCarthy called "neighborhoods" or "communities." For instance, the pre-kindergarten classrooms and the Family Resource Center might be grouped together, and upper-grade classrooms might be separated from the lower grades.

The third design, called the "campfire scheme," is a circular school with a courtyard in the center.

"Something we heard over and over again about the school was the sense of community," McCarthy said. "The nice thing about a circle is you can always reference the center. It seemed like a nice metaphor for the school."

Each concept features a different configuration for parking and for bus and car drop-off areas, which the architects said were interchangeable among each building design. All three designs included a separate parking lot and drop-off area for pre-K students.

All three would be "largely two-story" buildings with portions that are one level. None would have a basement.

Read the rest here:
Charter Oak School Architects Share Conceptual Designs