New Hanover County Schools
College Park Elementary School
This new 80,349 SF elementary school for New Hanover County Schools accommodates 595 students. The prototype design, successfully implemented at Porter’s Neck Elementary School, offers an economical, functional floor plan and building systems. The project included demolition of an outdated elementary school and careful planning to adapt the plan to existing context and site features. The load-bearing masonry structure and metal stud wall framing help to reduce building costs, and the infrastructure is designed for future expansion.
LOCATION: Wilmington, NC
SIZE: 80,350 SF
COMPLETED: 2019
A Twist of Imagination
The original College Park Elementary was badly damaged by Hurricane Florence. The wind-driven rain came in at 100 miles per hour through the roof windows, and faucets. When the rain stopped, numerous leaks had ruined carpets, drywall, and even ceiling tiles. The College Park students were out of school for weeks, along with the rest of the county; when they returned to school, they were split between two other facilities. Everyone made the best of a crowded situation, cheerfully accommodating up to 45 kids in a classroom, but it was not ideal.
Infusing Color
The vibrant but calming color scheme celebrates the site’s natural environment through hanging abstractions of leaves forming a tree-like canopy, warm maple casework, and green stairwells. Throughout the building, color-coded hallways help small building users navigate the space with confidence.
The school’s kid-friendly furnishings are unique within the school system, with pieces featuring wavy lines, rounded edges, bold colors, and writable surfaces. The furnishings were selected for maximum flexibility to support a 21st century learning environment and easily adapt to any task from individual study to collaborative, project-based activities.
Environmental Inspirations
College Park’s shared spaces share the bright, cheerful, nature-inspired aesthetic. The media center echoes the abstracted tree and leaf motif found through the school with clusters of leaf-green hex tile flooring. With a blend of soft seating and spaces for focused work, the media center accommodates a variety of learning modes and functions through flexible furnishings and curved shelves to define the space. The art and music rooms, likewise, make use of high-impact graphics with a color wheel on the floor of the art room and scattered squares for assembling a student orchestra in the music room.
