Montessori School

A small private school located in the center of Wilmington had a need for expansion to a neighboring lot after outgrowing their accommodations originally conceived by Circle-K.  A not quite square parcel of land with slightly tapering lot lines informed the solution of a three-room school house with a tapering administrative wing on one side.

 The roof angle allows for ample daylighting with the high side being clad in translucent fiberglass panels.  Classrooms are delineated with movable partitions making for a quick transition to an assembly space when necessary. The administrative wing of the building can be converted to the backstage area during productions of plays and holiday performances.  This boat-hull-shaped administrative wing is clad in an abstract battleship dazzle camouflage with alternating shades of blues and grays borrowed from the U.S.S. North Carolina moored in downtown Wilmington.  Weathered cypress clad restroom boxes on the front of the building bookend interior nature spaces where animals and plants can be contained as pets and experiments.  Classrooms have roll up garage doors which open to a covered porch for al fresco teaching.  All columns supporting the roof are rooted in planting beds, allowing vines to climb upward through the porch trusses.  Pinup and display walls in the interior gallery-hall are oriented toward glass walls for the enjoyment by those in the carpool line.  Rainwater is redirected to a large swale at the front of the property designed to work as a rain garden where plants and animals can be studied in a soggy bog-like environment.  Windows on the side of the building are of all shapes and sizes and differing heights off the ground to support different seating and studying needs, be it on a couch, desk, standing, or even the floor.