Connecting the Community

Trillium Creek Primary 

Tandus Centiva Powerbond is one colorful element of Trillium Creek Primary School that makes it an inviting and engaging place for children to learn.

Trillium Creek Primary School in West Linn, Ore. is the kind of place you just want to be. It includes lots of open spaces to invite collaboration and a library that looks like a forest. Splashes of bright colors adorn the floors and walls. Natural finishes bring the outdoors in. And a giant slide connects students from the second to the first floor because, why not?

The school redesign represents the successful culmination of an inclusive planning process with the district and community — an expansive approach that invited everyone in to reimagine the learning environment, especially the students themselves. In fact, one fifth-grader’s quote became a sort of mantra for the whole school’s design: “I want to be the captain of my own learning.”

Underneath it all, Tandus Centiva Powerbond is there, grounding the design with a wonderfully durable soft surface that can seamlessly integrate bright color inlays while transforming even the floorplane into a place where kids` can hang out and learn. And it helped achieve a primary objective: A sustainably designed environment that models responsible stewardship of resources. Because Tandus Centiva Powerbond performs so well for so long; because it stays looking good for 20, 30, even 40 years (and beyond); and because when it finally does need to be replaced, it’s easily recycled.

Trillium Creek won the National 2014 James D. MacConnell Award, which recognizes excellence in comprehensive planning in educational design. But even more importantly, the school’s a winner with the students, teachers and whole community. As one student put it, “The fun things kind of inspire you and the cool things make us want to come to school.”

www.tandus-centiva.com

This article originally appeared in the issue of .

Featured

  • Pitzer College

    Designing for Change in Higher Ed Learning Environments

    Higher education will continue to evolve, and learning environments must evolve with it. By prioritizing adaptable infrastructure, thoughtful reuse, strong energy performance, and wellness-centered design, campuses can create spaces that support learning today while remaining flexible for the future.

  • California School District Completes Elementary School Modernization

    The San Diego Unified School District in San Diego, Calif., recently held a ribbon-cutting for a whole-site modernization of Pacific Beach Elementary School, according to local news. The school first opened with one building in 1930 and added six more between 1938 and 1957.

  • College of the Desert Hits Construction Milestone on New Campus

    College of the Desert recently announced that the construction of its new Palm Springs Campus in Palm Springs, Calif., recently reached a major construction milestone, according to a news release. The college is partnering with general contractor C.W. Driver Companies, which recently “topped out” the facility by placing the final beam in its structure.

  • Campus Safety Requires Using Every Resource Available

    Across the U.S., school and campus leaders are facing a security landscape that has changed dramatically over the past decade. Incidents on school property have increased in recent years, with several consecutive years setting record totals. According to analysis of data by CNN, dozens of shootings now occur on school grounds annually across K-12 and higher education environments.