Project File: Sharing facilities

The 143,000-square-foot Coffeyville Community Elementary School, Coffeyville, Kan., shares a gymnasium, media center and other facilities with the community.

The school has generous corridors, spacious classrooms, and a variety of outdoor and indoor learning areas. Spaces with different scale and tone encourage social interaction on different levels. Large-group rooms bring students from several classes together, and window seats in the corridors provide an opportunity for more intimate discussions. Three courtyards, with various maps stenciled into the patios, teach students lessons about Kansas and world communities.

Natural light floods the main corridor, and windows throughout the building offer views of the surrounding community, and help to orient children within the building and the surrounding neighborhood. On the outside, brick and split-faced block walls anchor the visual movement of the horizontally ribbed metal panels.

Additional building features include an art room and a computer lab, both available for community use. A central kitchen prepares meals for the entire school district. Three FEMA 361-rated “Tornado Safer Areas” provide a safe place for children and the community to take shelter during dangerous weather.

The architect for this project is PBA Architects, PA (Wichita, Kan.).