Eastgate Elementary School

Bellevue, WashingtonElementary School

Project of Distinction – New ConstructionNAC|Architecture

2010 Exhibition of School Planning and Architecture

Eastgate Elementary School

Eastgate Elementary School

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12

34

7

9

1. Parent Drop Off / Visitor Parking

2. Entry Plaza3. Kindergarten /

Younger Child Play Area4. Outdoor Classrooms5. Hard Surface /

Older Child Play Area6. Field7. Buses / Staff Parking8. Bus entry garden9. Existing Pre-School

Building

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The school’s organization into small pavilions enables excellent daylighting and views to the established green edges that surround the site. The massing, developed in simple two-story forms, expresses the confident quality required of a civic project, while maintaining a fitting scale for the long established residential neighborhood. The scale and quality of the building and the exterior spaces such as the entry plaza and bus entry garden engage the surrounding context with an appropriate urban invitation.

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Community Environment: Welcoming EntryThe main stairway is in a welcoming light-filled foyer, a greeting place for students travelling by bus or dropped off by their parents. Everyone passes through the main entry space celebrating arrival at school.

Community Environment: Library as a HubOverlooking the entry plaza and connecting to the entry foyer, the library is the hub of student activity. When used for community meetings it serves as a comfortable informal gathering and social space. With its views and daylight it has quickly become a favorite spot for district wide administrative meetings.

Learning Environment: Small Learning Neighborhoods - Flexible Indoor ClassroomsOrganized in Small Learning Neighborhoods, the core learning areas are well daylit, sized and designed to accommodate different learning modes, and enjoy the benefits of the surrounding natural quality.

GalleryCore Learning AreaShared Small Group / Project Room

Typical Small Learning Neighborhood

Learning Environment: Outdoor ClassroomsEvery Small Learning Neighborhood has an adjacent outdoor classroom, providing teachers with the opportunity to take advantage of the mild climate to better engage students in outdoor and kinesthetic learning

Physical Environment: Indoor/Outdoor Connection

Physical Environment: Landscape as a Teaching ToolThe landscape design has been carefully integrated with the architecture for both teaching and experiential purposes. The immediacy, location and selection of plants enables teachers to reference them during relevant poetry readings, and while teaching about the seasons, native plants, and geology. The adjacent exterior classrooms are also used for art instruction allowing students to explore art out of doors.

Planning Process: Continuum of LearningEastgate Elementary School is organized into Small Learning Neighborhoods separated by Outdoor Classrooms weaving a continuum of educational spaces across the site. Designed to connect to nature, the school invites the use of the site as a teaching tool.

A series of small pavilions . . .

with indoor/outdoor connections . . .

enables a continuum of learning.

Planning Process: Small Learning Neighborhoods

Core Learning AreaInformal Activity SpaceGallery Display SpaceSmall Group Project RoomsConnection from Classroom to Project RoomConnection from Classroom to Exterior

The school’s teaching culture implements Small Learning Neighborhoods organized by grade level. Core Learning Areas are flexible and equipped to accommodate a variety of teaching and learning styles. Small group project rooms connect between Core Learning Areas, expansive windows maintain a connection to nature, and a continuous display gallery between the Core Learning Area enhances collaboration and identity within each neighborhood.

L-Shaped Small Learning Neighborhood

Typical Small Learning Neighborhood

1 Commons2 Stage3 Music4 Gym5 Typical Learning

Neighborhood6 Small Learning

Neighborhood7 Art8 Kindergarten9 Outdoor Classrooms

1st Floor Plan

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8

51

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3

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010

30 FT

1 Typical Learning Neighborhood

2 Small Learning Neighborhood

3 Library

2nd Floor Plan

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2

11

N

010

30 FT

Exhibition of School Planning and Architecture 2010 Project Data

Submitting Firm : NAC|ArchitectureProject Role ArchitectProject Contact Steve GaleyTitle Project ManagerAddress 2201 Sixth Avenue, Suite 1405City, State or Province, Country Seattle, Washington 98121, USAPhone 206-441-4522

Joint Partner Firm:Project Role N/AProject Contact N/ATitle N/AAddress N/ACity, State or Province, Country N/APhone N/A

Other Firm:Project Role N/AProject Contact N/ATitle N/AAddress N/ACity, State or Province, Country N/APhone N/A

Construction Firm: Spee West Construction Co.Project Role General ContractorProject Contact Doug SpeeTitle OwnerAddress 307 Bell St.City, State or Province, Country Edmonds, WAPhone 206-284-7733

Exhibition of School Planning and Architecture 2010 Project Details

Project Name  Eastgate Elementary School

City  Bellevue

State  Washington

District Name  Bellevue School District

Supt/President  Dr. Amalia Cudeiro

Occupancy Date  September 2009

Grades Housed K-5

 

Capacity(Students)  570 students

Site Size (acres)  8.1 acres total (only 5.7 acres suitable for building)

Gross Area (sq. ft.)  67,036 sq. ft.

Per Occupant(pupil)   117.6 sq. ft. / pupil

gross/net please indicate  Gross

 

Design and Build?  No

If yes, Total Cost:  

Includes:  

 

If no,  

Site Development:   $4,293,700

Building Construction:  $10,038,000

Fixed Equipment:  $3,982,900

Other:   $2,879,936

 

Total:  $21,194,536

Community Environment: School as a Center of CommunityThe use of wood and views to the tree covered hill beyond dignify the interior of the gym and commons inviting community use. Because of the physical separation of publicly used spaces, multiple community groups can use the school’s facilities simultaneously.

LibraryGymnasium

Learning Environment: Informal Learning SpacesThe school design uses ancillary spaces, such as stairways, to provide informal learning spaces for small groups, pull-out individual projects, one-on-one mentoring activities or for other social or relaxation purposes.

Learning Environment:Art Fosters IdentityCommunity in the school is enhanced through engagement of students and parents in art. Hand painting of the eagle mascot and a pointillist landscape image on glass panels enrich the school’s identity for both students and the larger community.

Planning Process: Sustainable PioneerThe school achieved a vigorous sustainable agenda that continues to mark this building as a district pioneer; ground source heating located below the playfields, the weaving of landscape into the school’s courtyards, and a daylighting scheme that reduces reliance on electricity and gives dramatic views to natural site features.

Physical Environment: Slowness of DiscoveryMaterials change scale and color to emphasize exterior community spaces and interior individual spaces. Landscape provides a counterpoint to the school’s textures and an accent to its experiential approach to teaching. Landscape and building weave together to invite a gradual spatial discovery through physical exploration.