Project Overview
This brand new school was conceived as a prototype, which needed to be adapted to the site. Twenty acres, near the 1-95/1-695 interchange, featured a ridge, cutting diagonally across the middle of the wooded site, as well as small streams and wetlands.
Our Approach
The site design was adapted to use the grades, locating the elementary school on the ridge. The existing slope beyond the fields will be disturbed as minimally as possible to reduce the number of trees that would need to be removed. Native plantings enhanced existing wetlands. An outdoor seating area with colorful plants (purple smoke tree, black mondo grass, and blue fescue) was created.
ESD (Environmental Site Design) was utilized to manage quantity and quality of stormwater drainage, with four separate facilities designed: two submerged gravel wetlands and two microbioretention facilities. These will contribute to the LEED Silver certification of the school.
Two new entrances were designed, one for buses only and the other to accommodate the remaining traffic. The bus only entrance allows a right turn into the site from Rossville Boulevard and a right turn only exit onto Rossville Boulevard. A vegetation buffer was designed to preserve environmentally protected areas and to lessen the impact of a new school on the residential neighborhood.