Medfield Heights Elementary Replacement School

Design Collective was awarded the design for the replacement of Medfield Heights Elementary School. The new school has a state-rated capacity of 491 and the building is 79,000sf. The school sits in a residential area of the Medfield neighborhood of Baltimore and has an active community association. The new school is a 3-section school and includes 5 collaboration spaces for non-traditional learning outside of the typical classroom environment. The design of the building and the landscape in parallel allows for a direct connection between interior and exterior and allows for learning to continue outside of the confines of the building by integrating outside gathering spaces. 

Medfield Heights is a constrained 4 acre site that poses significant challenges with the grades which limits where the new building was placed on site. The design solution needed to work with the existing grades and not impose significant retaining walls or major changes in grades which redirected the existing flow of stormwater on the site. The new building was placed in the approximate location of the existing but the proposed design has a 3-story building in place of the existing single story school. The 3-story solution minimized grading by placing the building on the flattest part of the site and maximized the amount of outdoor play areas for students. There is a 8’ drop from the building to the parking lot that was made accessible and the service area was screened from view from the neighboring residences across Buchanan Avenue. Placement of playgrounds are such that they are visible and accessible to the surrounding community.