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WILLOWWIND SCHOOL
The design challenge for the Willowwind School was to take a
dilapidated, dingy, abandoned Moose Lodge and turn it into
a green, playful, cheerful environment for learning at the
preschool and elementary school levels. The bones of the
Lodge were basically sound and the program matched its size
fairly closely, but the smell of stale beer and dimly lit
plywood paneling made visualizing a pleasant school difficult.
By moving and removing walls here and there, and adding an
elevator and office space for the administration, the functions
of the school were well accommodated and the grim front façade
of the lodge was transformed.
With natural light as a priority,
roof monitors, clerestories, and high-tech skylights let
copious amounts of light into all of the interior spaces.
With the exception of some of the brick walls, the entire
exterior of the building was re-skinned with new materials.
Lots of floor-to-ceiling windows and doors give each classroom
direct visual and physical connection with the outdoors.
The WIllowwind School has been certified LEED Gold. Less than
10 Elementary Schools in the US have attained this status and
Willowwind is the only school in Iowa to have done so. |
