Short Pump Middle School | Glen Allen, VA

Middle School

This 147,000 square foot middle school accommodates 1,200 students from grades 6-8. As a public facility, the school also functions as a new community center after school hours. Therefore, the design for the building accommodates not only the required program for a middle school, but also the need of the surrounding community for a place of varied assembly.

To achieve efficient use of the site's half-mile long configuration, the school divides the site into two large, open yards in front of and behind the building. Outdoor spaces include an exterior courtyard with an amphitheater, defined areas in and around the bus drop-off canopy, and the baseball fields and hard-surface courts, separated by islands of planting.

All common use spaces are adjacent to the exterior public space. The gymnasium, auditorium, library, administration, and cafeteria/commons area are housed economically within one repetitive structure. The school building breaks into two pavilions. Housing primarily classrooms, these spaces are organized in a "pinwheel" fashion around central support or core functions. Each floor of the two-story pavilions becomes an independent collection of classrooms and teachers' facilities, creating clear divisions for the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. The remaining floor area is devoted to vocational and specialized teaching. The individual, "pod"-like configuration of classrooms allows for desired team teaching practices where the sixteen classrooms can be grouped into paired clusters of major curriculum elements.

Award: William W. Caudill Citation, American School & University Magazine