The 60,000 SF Hazelwood Elementary School replaced an existing school on a challenging, steeply sloped site. The goal was to produce an exciting learning experience and a building that fits and respects the unique topography of the site while retaining the facility’s role as a neighborhood focus.
The building’s organization addressed the Educational Specification and integrated it with the site. A plan that is open to the community and secure for the students was developed through thorough spatial planning. The building responds to the site’s rolling features for visual, functional, and seismic requirements. The new Hazelwood Elementary is located in a wooded portion of the site, resulting in a more secure building that mitigates traffic patterns at the existing major intersection.
The building’s organization clusters the public spaces together and arranges them to be immediately accessible from the site entrances. Public spaces include the Administration, Commons, and Gymnasium. An operable partition wall between the Gymnasium and Commons allows for a larger space. The Kindergarten and Special Education wing and other Classroom wings are arranged away from these public spaces for privacy and functional separation. Primary grades have ground-level access. Intermediate grades are housed on the second story with the Library, Resource Rooms, and Staff Lounge.
