Foxbank Elementary School, Berkeley County School District

The new 108,500 SF Foxbank Elementary School was planned for an initial enrollment of 750 students with a core and room to expand to 900. Surrounded by houses and wetlands, this school is designed to reference a traditional schoolhouse and blend into the established neighborhood. A front porch defines the main entrance and the massing is broken down into smaller, gabled buildings in accordance with the residential scale.

The two-story school houses a media center, multi-purpose and dining room, 36 classrooms, and a variety of music, art, technology, and resource rooms. Each classroom wing is organized around collaboration nodes for breakout teaching and a flexible learning environment. Additionally, the classrooms were designed with flexible furniture and technology. The U-shaped building embraces a courtyard and kindergarten yard for safe outdoor gathering, instruction, and play. Located at the center of the building and directly across from the front entrance, the media center serves as the heart of the school offering layers of learning opportunities with collaboration areas, flexible furniture, conference rooms, a makerspace, and technology integration. The combined cafeteria and multipurpose room provide the school with an economical space that offers dining, physical education, assembly, and performing arts options.

Wayfinding played a large role in the interior design of the school. Each wing is color-coded to help with navigation, highlighted in the finishes, and emphasized in collaboration nodes with identifiable center. As the students move closer to shared grade level spaces such as the media center or cafeteria, the colors converge on the flooring, furniture, and wall colors. Colored lines down the center of wing corridors help organize student circulation.

The school opened in August 2018.