Under court order to accomplish desegregation among its schools, Rockford District #205 put together a team led by RuckPate to plan, design, and build a magnet middle school on a 48-acre green field site. RuckPate began with outreach efforts to the community stakeholders to engage them in the planning process and solicit input. This included town hall meetings and neighbor-hosted coffees, which were all conducted bilingually. The result not only satisfied the mandate, but yielded a quality educational facility for the district, and a tremendous community asset to the local neighborhood.

The academy’s 1,200 students are housed in small learning communities of 400 students, with three teams each. The unique “cross” plan creates a strong team identity for all nine areas, with each “house” having its own sense of community. The core curriculum is delivered within the individual team areas which include their own fully equipped science lab and dedicated technology resource area.

The building is organized for easy circulation to the public elements, including the library, student commons, administration, multimedia lab, art, music, and physical education areas. The heart of the school is the unusual “Earth Center”, a flexible environmental studio featuring hydroponics, stream tables, aquariums, and a functional greenhouse. All public areas are zoned for evening use by the community. Other unique features include a large community room and an indoor six-lane swimming pool.

Other features of the site include outdoor classroom, student and community gardens, fitness trails, wetlands development and prairie restoration.

For more information on this project,
contact RuckPate at info@ruckpate.com.

Full Printable Version in PDF Format
(Requires Adobe Reader Software)  

  (Click to download Adobe Reader)

Previous Page