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Madison Middle School
Communities across America are facing daunting challenges. How do we provide relevant education for our children? What do we do with our aging school buildings? The story of Madison Middle School’s revitalization answers both questions by applying progressive educational thinking to an historic school on a small, steep site. The restoration of and addition to Madison Middle School involved several notable challenges. To be successful, the project required district-wide buy-in of schools organized into small learning communities, re-fitting the landmark school to meet new educational needs, integration of sustainable design strategies, and a dedication to maintaining and enhancing the school’s community connections. Educational leaders at Madison reshaped the school into grade-based teams in the mid 1990’s. Their successes, along with broader educational reform trends, inspired School District leaders to begin a dialog focused on transforming secondary schools district-wide. The transformation process centered on a district-wide School Design Team (SDT) that included educators, administrators and architects. The group was charged with creating a new model for school design rather than revisiting traditional practices for building and renovating schools. Throughout this process, the SDT researched and incorporated best practices focused on helping all children achieve their fullest potential. The SDT work resulted in a report, “The School Design Process”, which has been used as a template in the design of all subsequent secondary schools involved in capital improvements. “The School Design Process” outlined a series of themes and attributes of high achieving schools, a rubric to assist schools in measuring their transformation progress, a school design checklist and a series of design activities focused on expanding the vision of site-based design teams. Several goals emerged from this re-shaping process. These goals included creating learner-centered and personalized environments, providing for program adaptability and community connections, creating a safe school and grounds, enhancing opportunities for collaboration, and finally, respecting the aesthetics of landmark schools. Following the district-wide transformation process, a site-specific Madison SDT developed education specifications outlining program criteria, and organizational goals, along with site and building considerations. Incorporating progressive transformational goals into an historic structure was another significant issue in the redesign of Madison Middle School. The original school building and site presented numerous challenges including unsafe play areas and drop-off zones, untenable vertical separation between building and playfields, and a monotonous internal classroom layout that didn’t support the vital teamwork taking place within the structure. Constructed in 1929, with a complementary addition in 1931, the existing main building of Madison Middle School was designed in the Collegiate Gothic style. The school, a local landmark structure noted for its exterior and main lobby space, was composed of a three-story volume to the east with one and two-story portions to the west. A two-story Gymnasium building was constructed to the southwest of the original building in 1971. Sited on 7.92 acres, the surrounding area is composed of a single-family residential neighborhood. The original grading provided two principal terraces connected by two sets of narrow concrete stairs with a steep slope between them. A playfield occupied the lower terrace, with the buildings sited on the upper terrace 60 feet above. Although the site enjoys an expansive view to the west over the neighborhood and across the Puget Sound to the Olympic Mountains, the existing structures did not take advantage of this site feature. Parking was minimal on the existing site, and the student outdoor play area was located adjacent to the streets at the southeast corner of the site. The program called for roughly 126,000 square feet of educational space with vehicular drop-off and visitor parking at the southeast corner, and additional parking and service access to the north. The existing building plan did not support the current educational themes of the School District or of Madison Middle School. To achieve these goals, the western (one and two-story) portions of the 1929 structure were demolished and replaced with new construction. The landmarked interior lobby space and the façade of the main eastern structure were maintained and restored. The new addition stepped the school down the hill, from the upper terrace to the playfield below, creating three building layers. At the top of the hill is the restored three-story Collegiate Gothic structure. The new construction descends two additional tiers, dropping the lowest level of the building to approximately 17 feet above the playfield. This hillclimb theme was also applied to the architectural design, working down the hill from an historic structure to a more contemporary addition. By reflecting the existing building in materials, proportions and fenestration, the addition is sympathetic to the original design, while maintaining a modern identity. To further the connection between the landscape and buildings, a gracious exterior stair connects the upper building and drop-off areas to the new building terraces and the field below. As the building gracefully steps down the hillside, the roof of the lowest level becomes a large terrace adjacent to the mid-level addition. This terrace, which connects to the Commons, provides a safe outdoor play area conveniently located for the students. The design concept for the core academic areas provided classroom clusters to accommodate teaching teams. Madison Middle School was designed for grades 6 through 8, with an estimated student body of 800-900. Each grade was divided into two teams, with each team occupying one of the six clusters located on the upper two floors of the existing building and the lower level of the addition. Each team cluster consists of 5-6 classrooms and a science lab organized around a flexible learning (flex) area. A planning room in each cluster accommodates shared teacher work space. The flex areas within these team clusters provide a collaborative learning environment for such activities as shared lessons, project-based learning or small group break-out sessions. The surrounding classrooms have varying degrees of openness to the flex area in order to provide a variety of teaching and learning opportunities. To supplement the new program and layout of Madison, a number of exceptional sustainable strategies were incorporated into the project. Since daylighting is a key attribute of excellent learning environments, the school addition and historic building re-design invites natural light into every classroom. The original tall, double-hung windows in the landmark building were restored, and classrooms in the new addition benefit from similarly large, operable windows. The extensive amount of excavation and site work, combined with well-draining sandy soil, presented opportunities for other solutions as well. A bio-swale was created at the northwest corner of the site. This vegetated swale collects, detains, and filters all of the site’s storm water runoff, eliminating the need for costly detention and treatment equipment. Integrated into the landscape design, the swale is now a feature of the site instead of an eyesore or liability. Environmentally friendly practices were also built into the site as part of the school’s mechanical system. A network of geothermal wells was placed under the field to provide the heating and cooling for the entire building. Water is pumped through the wells, cooling or heating it to the earth’s constant temperature, and then circulated to heat pumps, which deliver conditioned air to the building’s interior. The geothermal system significantly reduced energy costs for the building. The final challenge at Madison was to accommodate the goal of enhancing community access to the school. This goal was met by locating the major community spaces – Administration, Library and Commons – on the central floors of the building. Administration and Library spaces flank the historic main entrance of the school, thus reinforcing traditional patterns of community access. The landmark entry foyer was reshaped to open directly onto a balcony overlooking the two-story Commons and spectacular views of the Olympic Mountains. A new north/south corridor links the Commons balcony to the Gym and visitor parking and drop-off area at the southeast corner of the site, further accommodating ease of community access. Perhaps the most successful attribute of this project is the community’s enthusiasm. Defining elements of the landmark school were preserved to their satisfaction and pride, while the addition encourages visitors to enjoy play areas and exterior roof plazas. Madison Middle School is an excellent example of how early 20th century buildings can be rejuvenated in support of 21st century reform initiatives.
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