Painting the future of education in Utah

Education is one of the vital cornerstones of our society, providing the foundation young people all across the country need in order to flourish in their professional and personal lives. The facilities in which our children learn provide formative experiences that heavily influence their success and view of the world. Schools all across the country are getting older and becoming less conducive to providing a positive teaching environment. As part of a much needed educational expansion for the Davis School District in Farmington, Utah, two new schools were recently commissioned to better serve the local student body, including Odyssey Elementary School.

Designed by VCBO Architecture, plans for the new school called for 84,785 square-foot of total environmentally conscious construction. Composed of two multi-story educational wings centered around a common dining area, Odyssey Elementary was also devised to obtain LEED^® Gold certification through its use of 1,200 solar panels, natural lighting and use of sustainable materials. Along with its creative interior design and overall mass, the defining features of the school’s architecture are the exterior metal panels installed in two curving bands atop the building’s main entrance. The design is composed of ATAS CastleTop diamond-shaped flat metal roof shingles coated in Valspar’s Fluropon^® coating in six colors - Dove Grey, Siam Blue, Regal Blue, Teal, Hartford Green, and Hemlock Green.

The interlocking panels combined with a patterned use of the six Fluropon coatings provides an energetic, complex aesthetic to Odyssey Elementary School. Valspar’s Fluropon 70 percent PVDF architectural coating is renown for its high-performance qualities and durability, including superior resistance to ultraviolet rays and exceptional dirt and stain resistance. The exterior design reinforces the branding of the school – Bodies in Motion: the Animal Kingdom. The colors were selected to evoke motion and be reminiscent of fish scales, and Fluropon’s outstanding color retention and consistency have only increased its visual resonance.

With a beautiful exterior façade to match its many sustainable business practices, Odyssey Elementary School opened its doors in 2014 as one of the “greenest” schools in Utah. Thanks in part to ATAS International Inc. and Valspar, Odyssey now provides hundreds of students in the Salt Lake City suburbs with a state-of-the-art education facility that houses a welcoming and effective teaching curriculum. With the initial success of Odyssey Elementary in place, and a second school on the way, it hopefully won’t be long until many fellow school districts across the country follow suit.