The project is located in the historical district of downtown Anderson. The main focus of our project was to look at how to use the school as a catalyst for urban revitalisation in Anderson and how the school could fit within the context of Anderson. One pattern we found in the city was the public square, which we implemented into the project by creating a courtyard that would be both a space to organize the school programs and to allow public interaction.

Along with this, we identified buildings which were either vacant or underutilized and incorporated them into our scheme. These buildings are connected by the main space of our project, the atrium space that acts as the “heart of the school.” The students use this space as an entrance from the bus drop off and a commons area, that they pass through throughout the day. This is also the face of the school that the public can enter to access the school’s administration and the school’s auditorium, both housed in existing buildings.

The courtyard organizes all the school programs, every space in the school being linked to it visually. At the ground level we placed the gymnasium and the cafeteria as well as the atrium space. They are right off of this space so they can open up and use the courtyard space as an extension of their interior space.

We created a diversity of classroom spaces in the school that are made up of traditional classroom spaces as well as more fluid spaces that allow for project based learning. These are intermixed within the classroom spaces. Above the gymnasium, we placed an open project based learning area, that has multiple spaces for active learning as well as glass boxes for quiet study and meetings.