Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn Community School District selected Boyd Jones for a major construction and renovation project that includes a new elementary school and playground; renovations, addition, and new gymnasium at the district’s middle school; and renovations, new HVAC, and new spaces for industrial technology and wrestling at the high school.
The new elementary school replaces a 1930’s building in Hartley that outlived its useful life and didn’t accommodate modern accessibility standards. The new building is among the first in Iowa built to embrace 21st Century Learning principles. At the core of the design is the ability to offer students and teachers flexibility and adaptability in terms of layouts. Learning spaces in the building include a series of adjacent learning studios surrounding a central learning commons area. Garage door- and accordion-style walls easily open and shut to quickly adapt classroom spaces to instruction. This more collaborative approach makes it easier for teachers to bring an entire class or grade level together for collaborative activities, or to engage smaller groups in breakout sessions without having to find an open classroom.
