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The renovated Terraset Elementary School.
entry courtyard, for a total addition around the building’s “The entire interior of the school was reimagined and
perimeter of about 34,000 square feet. Two pedestrian expanded,” Shaw said. “The school was transformed from
bridges leading to the entry area were replaced with a a late-1970s open classroom layout to a more traditional
single new pedestrian bridge that is shaded by a canopy one, while increasing the school’s capacity by about 300
reminiscent of the original solar panel array. students. To accommodate the expanded program on a
One of the concerns for the project “was disturbing relatively tight site, the additions protrude narrowly
the building’s existing waterproof membrane, which was from the original footprint. The new portions include an
in fairly good shape,” Shaw said. “Due to the complexity administrative addition to the front entrance, a new
involved with the earth-covered structures, the decision library, classrooms, a fine arts addition for art and music,
was made to create additions outside of the earth-covered and a school-age child care space.”
structure and use more traditional energy-efficient and The building’s original pie-shaped rooms “were
maintainable roofing” for those new spaces. difficult to configure and ultimately inefficient,” he
On the inside, the cloverleaf floor plan was added. “The addition and renovation allowed the school
transformed into a conventional array of rectangular to utilize consistently-sized rooms in the quantity and
classrooms served by a town-like grid of hallways. The adjacencies required for the updated education program.
library was moved to one of the newly added perimeter While it is still organized into pods, the new layout provides
spaces, where it enjoys abundant natural light, and the sorely lacking ancillary spaces—special education rooms,
central space formerly used for the library was converted small conference rooms, varied-sized itinerate spaces,
into a light-filled activity area that offers access to the and teaching work spaces.”
grass roof via a new rooftop pavilion that replaced the The now-accessible grass roof was given a new
original skylight. educational mission. “What was previously [a design

54 REFRESHER COURSE