LMN architects has developed this high school of arts and sciences, a project designed to improve collaborative learning and foster community connections among students.

A learning center with a modern design, which is integrated into its urban environment, densely populated, with two groups separated by functions, which is related to the neighborhood environment in which it is located.
The school designed by LMN architects is separated by different floors, corresponding to each level of education, with classrooms for collective work, designed as volumes within the same volume of the building.

The floor of each grade has a different color tonality, creating a perception of the place and identity of each grade, and in turn creates a visual scheme to orient itself within it, together with the ability to visually integrate with the surrounding buildings
 

Description of project by LMN architects

LMN Architects celebrates the completion of the Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences Middle School. This project continues the evolution of this urban school and provides a new middle school program configured vertically to leverage the limited site, enhance pedagogical principles, and connect with adjacent school buildings and the neighborhood.

Positioned at the intersection of Union Street and 13th Avenue in Capitol Hill, a densely populated urban neighborhood in Seattle, the new Middle School synthesizes its urban condition and program into a six-story academic volume relating in scale to the mixed-use commercial core along the arterial street, and a lower volume dedicated to athletics that mirrors the residential neighborhood context found along 13th Avenue.
 

 “What was originally visualized as a collaborative, innovative, dynamic, and student-centric learning space has fully come to life and exceeded our expectations for our middle-school students, teachers, and community.”

-Rob Phillips, Seattle Academy’s Head of School


Middle School academic spaces occupy the upper floors in the new 51,372 SF building, while the lower floors provide for entry, administration, general gathering, maker space and music instruction. A gymnasium and outdoor rooftop playfield provide much needed physical activity space. Lower floors also incorporate direct connectivity to adjacent Seattle Academy buildings, further underscoring the project’s important function as a campus connector.
 

 “Beyond the programmatic and site complexities, this project reaffirms the important role of schools in the urban context. An innovative approach to stacked program and connectivity between students, classes, grades, the broader school and the community provides an educational experience centered on team-oriented projects and problem-based learning, grounded in the larger context of its neighborhood. We hope this new project contributes to the well-being of the community, the education of its children and the social activity along the Union Street corridor.”

-Wendy Pautz, Design Partner

Each Middle School grade occupies a floor within the building, with classrooms organized around a collaborative learning space to accommodate project-based learning and cross-discipline discovery. These collaboration spaces are designed as a series of double-height, stepped interior volumes that cascade between floors, enhancing visual and physical connectivity within the stacked program and creating opportunities for students to observe, cross paths, interact and engage beyond the four walls of the classroom.
 

 “Classrooms have been conceptualized as independent units of learning that connect with each other, collaboration spaces, other grades and the rest of the school, providing a flexible educational experience. Daylight, natural ventilation and operable windows allow for control of each of the spaces and promotes connection to the world outside of the building. The building’s circulation system provides an equitable experience for all students, with coordinated stair and elevator landings to ensure that students moving through the building in groups always converge at the same destination.” 

-Mark Reddington, Partner-in-Charge


Brick wraps the two building volumes and is punctuated by expanses of transparency, relating to the collaboration spaces, that cascade down the exterior of the building and resolve into a primary gathering space adjacent to the building entry that anchors the urban intersection. An outdoor space at the entry provides a welcoming gathering place for students and an urban amenity for the community. The façade is a mix of grey- and cream-colored bricks that fade vertically from dark to light, telegraphing the programmatic complexity and interior organization of the project. Multi-colored red sunshades provide playful contrast against the brick backdrop and express the school’s identity on the exterior of the building, with bold graphic elements accentuating the name of the school through simple and prominent typography.

Bold graphic elements continue to project the ethos of the school throughout the interior spaces. Each classroom floor features a different accent color, creating a sense of place and identity for each grade as well as a dynamic wayfinding scheme. A ribbon of faceted panels on the feature walls and ceilings of collaboration spaces weaves through the building, connecting these spaces and providing visual continuity both within the building and into the neighborhood.

With the new Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences Middle School, LMN Architects aspires to create an enhanced presence for the school in its surrounding urban context while creating both purpose-built and flexible educational spaces that further the school’s capacity to respond to its evolving pedagogy. The firm has designed and built projects for multiple independent schools in the Seattle area, as well as the Foster School of Business Paccar Hall and the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington, and the Lee Center for the Arts at Seattle University.

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Architects
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LMN Architects
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Project Team
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Chris Eidt, AIA Mette Greenshields, AIA Chelsea Holman Wendy Pautz, FAIA Michael Peterson, Associate AIA Osama Quotah AIA Mark Reddington,
FAIA Liliane Sabra, Associate AIA Jeremy Schoenfeld, AIA Masako Wada Mona Zellers, Associate AIA Civil & Structural Engineer.-Coughlin Porter Lundeen, Inc.
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Collaborators
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Landscape Architect.-Swift Company, LLC. Lighting Design.-dark | light consulting, LLC. MEP Engineer.-PAE Consulting Engineers, Inc.
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Client
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Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences.
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Area
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Site Area.-2,051 m². Floor Area.-4,772 m².
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Major Building Materials
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PT concrete, structural steel, brick, curtainwall.
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Venue
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1215 E. Union Street Seattle, Washington 98122. USA
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LMN Architects specializes in the planning and design of significant public and private projects, including transit stations, cultural venues, convention centers, education facilities, office buildings, mixed-use developments, and other urban environments that celebrate and enrich communities. The firm is the recipient of the 2016 American Institute of Architects National Architecture Firm Award.

SELECTED DESIGN AWARDS
2018 AIA National Honor Award for Interior Architecture
2017 Chicago Athenaeum/Europe International Architecture Award
2017 American Architecture Awards Airports and Transportation Centers
2017 Architizer Popular Choice Winner, Architecture + Glass
2016 Fast Company Innovation by Design Honorable Mention for Spaces, Places, Cities
2016 AIA Washington Council Civic Design Awards Honorable Mention
2016 AIA Seattle Chapter Award of Merit
2016 City of Seattle Design Commission Design Excellence Award

John Chau, AIA,
John is one of our most gifted designers and conceptualists. His ability to integrate the unique characteristics of each project with local culture and tradition has resulted in responsive, innovative solutions. His collaborative working style and mentoring skills have been fundamental in the success of many of the firm’s most important projects.

Sam Miller, FAIA, LEED AP,
Sam’s work includes civic, education, and performing arts projects in addition to leading LMN’s advances in sustainable design and design technology. His construction and engineering background supports a thorough understanding of building systems and technology.

Walt Niehoff, AIA,
Walt has been with LMN since 1989 and leads the firm’s private sector work. His expertise includes the design and project management of mixed-use, commercial, retail, corporate office, and high-rise office projects. He is a leader in developing progressive designs that integrate mixed-use projects into urban neighborhoods, and highly regarded for his ability to work with stakeholders to create projects embraced by their communities.

Wendy Pautz, FAIA,
Wendy is known for integrating conceptual design with a sophisticated knowledge of technical resolution. She synthesizes pragmatic project requirements with far-reaching social, economic and environmental considerations resulting in innovative solutions that enhance the life of their communities.

Mark Reddington, FAIA,
Mark has been instrumental in establishing LMN as a leader in the design of public places with over 120 awards including national and international awards for architecture, urban design and sustainability.  He leads projects in all market sectors including convention centers, performing arts, education and transportation and brings a strong focus on enhancing the public realm through design excellence.

George Shaw, FAIA, LEED AP,
George provides project leadership on major public projects including convention centers, performing arts venues and higher education facilities. His ability to discern and resolve fundamental planning and design issues, combined with his management and cost control skills, ensure a creative and highly effective design and project delivery process.

Stephen Van Dyck, AIA, LEED AP,
Stephen has earned a reputation for innovation, design technology and collaborative leadership and is widely recognized as an industry authority in the adoption of emerging technologies. His project experience encompasses a wide range of public assembly, performing arts, higher education and mixed-use projects.

Rafael Viñoly-Menendez, AIA,
Rafael has been involved in a wide range of national and international projects, including performing arts venues, sports and events facilities, with a special emphasis on the planning and design of convention and conference centers. His involvement with a wide variety of project types has consistently produced creative design solutions that capitalize on the opportunities implicit in the client’s program, site, and budget.

 
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Published on: July 3, 2019
Cite: "Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences Middle School by LMN architects" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/seattle-academy-arts-and-sciences-middle-school-lmn-architects> ISSN 1139-6415
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