The new Saugus Middle/High School, which opened last September, will bring together of 1,300 students in a STEAM-driven complex outfitted for exploratory learning and innovation. The school is anchored by three building pods comprising a four-story high school wing, a three-story middle school wing, and a central connecting pod with shared community spaces.
Built on a 22-acre site adjacent to the old high school, students enter the 269,000-sf building onto the school’s “main street,” a central circulation route connecting public spaces within the school. This circulation route serves as a link between the 750-seat auditorium, cafeteria, gym, and Starbucks-style student cafe.
The school hosts grades six through twelve and separates the distinct middle and high school academic zones by the shared core spaces. Eighth and ninth graders share the same floor to ease the transition from middle into high school. Grade-level classroom pods establish small learning communities that are lit with natural light via large lightwells. Windows look into a multi-level lightwell to provide a visual connection between grade levels in order to foster a sense of shared space and experience. Students across all grades have access to maker spaces and tech shops such as a woodshed, a broadcast studio, and coding and web-aided design labs.
Classrooms were designed with flexibility in mind. They are 800 sf, 350 sf larger than a standard classroom space, to allow for easy adaptation and future flexibility. The building’s furniture and equipment can be quickly rearranged in response to specific project or group needs.
Each of the building’s three learning pods is characterized by one of Saugus’s vital industries: iron, ice, and lobstering. Each pod contains a custom mural communicating the story of its industry through a graphic lens. The history of each industry also informed color choices and materiality.
The high school space is illuminated by a large, sweeping lightwell that pays homage to 1600s ironwork technology. The overall form of the lightwell through which the shaft directs light draws inspiration from the Saugus Iron Works blast furnaces.
In addition to HMFH, the build team also included Suffolk Construction as the construction manager.
Related Stories
| Apr 2, 2014
8 tips for avoiding thermal bridges in window applications
Aligning thermal breaks and applying air barriers are among the top design and installation tricks recommended by building enclosure experts.
| Mar 26, 2014
Callison launches sustainable design tool with 84 proven strategies
Hybrid ventilation, nighttime cooling, and fuel cell technology are among the dozens of sustainable design techniques profiled by Callison on its new website, Matrix.Callison.com.
| Mar 20, 2014
Common EIFS failures, and how to prevent them
Poor workmanship, impact damage, building movement, and incompatible or unsound substrate are among the major culprits of EIFS problems.
| Mar 19, 2014
Frames: the biggest value engineering tip
In every aspect of a metal building, you can tweak the cost by adjusting the finish, panel thickness, and panel profile. These changes might make a few percentage points difference in the cost. Change the framing and you have the opportunity to affect 10-20 percent savings to the metal building portion of the project.
| Mar 17, 2014
Rem Koolhaas explains China's plans for its 'ghost cities'
China's goal, according to Koolhaas, is to de-incentivize migration into already overcrowded cities.
| Mar 12, 2014
14 new ideas for doors and door hardware
From a high-tech classroom lockdown system to an impact-resistant wide-stile door line, BD+C editors present a collection of door and door hardware innovations.
| Mar 7, 2014
Thom Mayne's high-tech Emerson College LA campus opens in Hollywood [slideshow]
The $85 million, 10-story vertical campus takes the shape of a massive, shimmering aircraft hangar, housing a sculptural, glass-and-aluminum base building.
| Mar 7, 2014
Chicago's 7 most threatened buildings: Guyon Hotel, Jeffrey Theater make the list
The 2014 edition of Preservation Chicago's annual Chicago's 7 list includes an L station house, public school, theater, manufacturing district, power house, and hotel.
| Mar 4, 2014
If there’s no ‘STEM crisis,’ why build more STEM schools?
Before you get your shorts in a knot, I have nothing against science, technology, engineering, or even mathematics; to the contrary, I love all four “STEM” disciplines (I’m lying about the math). But I question whether we need to be building K-12 schools that overly emphasize or are totally devoted to STEM.
| Feb 26, 2014
Adaptive reuse project brings school into historic paper mill
The project features nontraditional classrooms for collaborative learning, an arts and music wing, and a technologically sophisticated global resource center.
