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Education Design

Forest Park Middle School Exterior at night, in Franklin, Wisconsin. Schools must be designed for evening use, as much as for daytime use.

Location:
Franklin, WI

Scope:
Provided facility study and architectural design services for a new 209,000 sq. ft. middle school

External Team:

JP Cullen

Internal Team:

Awards:

Learning By Design Outstanding Project Award

Forest Park Middle School

Franklin, WI

Franklin Public Schools is a growing suburban Milwaukee district that had a dated, undersized middle school building. PRA was retained to complete a facility study and master plan. After an extensive analysis of educational needs, facility updates, and potential expansions to accommodate the growing program, it was decided a full building replacement rather than a renovation program was more cost-effective. The resulting building is a flexible and forward-looking learning environment that allows 1,200 sixth through eighth grade students access to myriad specialty spaces supported by a large middle school.

Collaborative, project-based exploration, and hands on learning are central to the building’s organization. Spanning two floors and forming the central hub of the school, the STEM Discovery Center incorporates and integrates a fabrication lab, wood shop, electronics and robotics lab and the open research-based media center. Connecting into this hub are three wings housing learning studios organized around open collaboration hubs. Strategically organized to facilitate multidisciplinary learning and provide direct access to the building’s core, each wing breaks down the overall scale of the school to more intimate neighborhoods easing student’s transition from elementary level.