What if an architecture firm was also a leader in informational materials, sharing, explaining and giving back through our architectural talents, expertise and design experience?
The new all-synthetic turf Mentor High School Baseball Field opened with a celebratory first game and a victory for the Cardinals. The stadium was packed with excited parents, community members, and students who came to enjoy the inaugural game on a brisk, sunny afternoon.
“Student-Centered Design” is an architectural strategy in K-12 educational facilities that provides students a variety of spaces for individual and group work, flexible furniture, and modern technology. This empowers them to adapt their environment to how they learn best. Districts across the U.S. are incorporating these strategies into both their curriculum and schools while experiencing greater student satisfaction, fewer disciplinary issues and increased academic time.
Progress continues on the Cuyahoga Falls 6-12 Campus. Learn about the schematic intent behind the academic design and how cost estimations play a part of the architectural process.
Over the summer, the design team continued to hit milestones in the design of the new Cuyahoga Falls 6-12 Campus. A variety of recent engagements have allowed the team to develop initial “schematic design drawings” that will be further developed in the months ahead.
The Oberlin City School District celebrated a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for their new Pre-K through fifth grade elementary school. Attended by the community, district officials and other dignitaries, the new elementary school provides a modern, collaborative learning environment and features environmentally friendly features that make it a model for sustainable school design.
Cynthia Haight works as an interior designer for ThenDesign Architecture (TDA). Driven to provide the best educational environment for students, she integrates, color, texture and detail in all of her projects. Having a background in psychology, Cynthia integrates this understanding into each space she works on to better create comfortable environments that allow users to succeed.
In early May, students at the Silver Lake Elementary School in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio gathered with architects, teachers, and district administrators to design a new playground for their school. While it may be easy to overlook such a small project, seeing a playground through a student’s eyes helps designers deliver a project that fits the needs of the district and students.
North High School in Eastlake Ohio is a 9-12 facility that embodies the educational ideals of the Willoughby/Eastlake School District. Conceptually organized around the idea of unifying a student’s “mind,” “heart” and “body,” this unique structure brings “student centered” learning to its lake front community.
In early 2021, ThenDesign Architecture relocated their offices to Memorial Junior High in Willoughby Ohio. Committed to the economic development of the Willoughby community, Bob Fiala, the founding partner of TDA and Executive Chairman and Chris Smith, the President and CEO, decided to reimagine the former school and develop it to become the new headquarters for an “education focused,” architectural firm.
Community members, district administrators, architecture and construction professionals along with dignitaries attended the New Campus Groundbreaking at Wickliffe City Schools on May 6th, to celebrate the commencement of construction on this exciting new PreK-12 facility. Embodying the goals for education in the district, the new school seeks to provide new spaces and learning opportunities for the students in the City of Wickliffe.
On April 29th 2021, ThenDesign Architecture held an “Educational Visioning” session at the Summit Educational Service Center in Cuyahoga Falls to begin designing for the future of the district’s new 6-12 campus. This day-long event focused on understanding the current challenges with the existing facilities and identifying opportunities the new building will bring.
Driven by the goal to provide the best educational facilities for their young students, Perry Local Schools is in the midst of an ambitious task; the design and construction of 4 new elementary schools across the district. Addressing the challenge of aging infrastructure in their current facilities, these new schools will provide a better organized school layout, community focused spaces, new technology, and a more comfortable and collaborative environment for students to learn in. Now well into the design process, each school showcases a unique characteristic of the Perry Massillon community, with the buildings slated to be completed by the fall of 2023.
As design commences for the new Cuyahoga Falls 6-12 Campus, the school district conducted its’ first “in-person” engagement with ThenDesign Architecture, Hammond Construction and members of the community on April 15th. The team met to introduce themselves, describe the scope of the project, answer questions and talk about how this new facility will impact education in the community.
Educational design is a rigorous process that involves dedication, technical ability and skill. Developing successful school facilities takes years of work, between district representatives, architects construction professionals and the community. A vast array of talents are used in this type of work, but one key characteristic is needed for any architect in educational design.
The North Olmsted 6-12 campus hosts a beautiful 315,000 sf school, a 4,000 seat athletic stadium, Performing Arts Center and landscaping all complimenting this “Georgian Architecture styled” school. ThenDesign Architecture, working with the North Olmsted City School District created a new landmark in the historic Butternut Ridge Historic District.
The Brush High School Renovation Project provides a dramatic update to this beautiful, historic school in Lyndhurst, Ohio. It brings an architectural refresh, new spaces and services to this iconic structure in a neighborhood setting. This $8.5 million dollar renovation addresses 45,000 sf of the almost 300,000 sf building. These improvements allow the South Euclid Lyndhurst School District to better utilize this historic school for years to come.
Kent City Schools is a large school district serving over 3,000 students. Established in the 1860s, the district is passionate about education and operates six school buildings, spread across the area. Working with the district, ThenDesign Architecture helped create a district-wide master plan for renovations on all 6 of the schools currently operating in Kent.
Despite the social isolation and challenges that faced our creative team in 2020, ThenDesign Architecture continues to find ways to come together, despite being apart. In mid-February our team got together for cross country skiing and enjoying the winter weather in Chapin Forest, which is one of the Lake Metroparks in Ohio. The multipronged approach of being outside, getting exercise, and seeing familiar faces is an example of our culture in action: collaboration, exploration and discovery.
ThenDesign Architecture actively participates in the ACE Mentor Program in Cleveland, Ohio. In a recent session, Jeff Henderson highlighted the different ways architects situate buildings in a landscape. He simplified this complicated concept for high school students, identifying six commonly used ways structures can shape the activity in a landscape.
Downtown Willoughby is home to many historic structures, some of them going back to the 1800’s. Memorial Junior High School is one such building. Built in 1925, ThenDesign Architecture is adaptively re-using this building for our future headquarters. Understand what goes into the decision between renovating a historic structure or building something brand new.
Against the backdrop of one of Cleveland’s most popular bars, a small environmental project has made big impacts on the design of a little green roof in dense urban environments. In 2013, Claire Bank, an architect with ThenDesign Architecture (TDA), managed a green roof project that was installed on one of Cleveland’s popular “Bike Box” installations and sought to demonstrate a new way to think about sustainability in a concrete jungle. Now, this internationally recognized project has attracted hundreds of professionals annually, showing them a new way to integrate native plant species into an otherwise inhospitable environment.
Let’s work together to make education better. Interested in speaking with us? Get in touch!