Puerto Rico High School Re-Envisioned Following Hurricane

Wesleyan High SchoolWith the intention to integrate building design techniques and technologies that not only comply with needs, but also respond to the human experience, building life cycle and operational efficiency, Fosis Corp. has started a new project which will re-create Wesleyan Academy's high school building.

Along with many other buildings in Puerto Rico, the Academy high school building was destroyed due to Category 5 hurricane Maria. Consequently, Fosis proposed a project to respond to the needs of high school staff and students.

Fosis cofounder and Principal Designer, Carlos Martinez Alfaro, explained "the project aims to relate with the day-to-day life of the student. Our intention is to achieve a space that stimulates learning and creates a sense of identity."

The design intends to promote natural light and ventilation, and scheme spaces that will adjust to students and the administration while integrating the existence gym facility with the new construction.

Designing a building that creates a unique identity while respecting the campus scale and administrative vision and helps create multidisciplinary integration are major goals of the new project. Nevertheless, the design seeks to provide an enriching student life experience, increase student retention and loyalty while attracting new students.

With an initial investment of $1.5 million, the construction is expected to begin in January 2018 and be completed by August 2018.

Featured

  • Chartwells Launches Campus Dining Evaluation Framework

    Contract food-service management provider Chartwells Higher Education recently announced the launch of BLUEPRINT, according to a news release. The evaluation framework was designed to provide a data-driven and customizable roadmap towards optimizing campus dining services and, by extension, the student experience.

  • school building with glowing circuit board patterns

    AI Is Coming to Schools — But Most School Buildings Still Run on Institutional Memory

    As school districts race to introduce AI into classrooms, administration, and curriculum planning, another conversation is happening behind the scenes: How prepared are school facilities themselves for the operational demands AI will create?

  • Rethinking K-12 Schools as a Continuous Learning Experience

    Most students move through three or more separate facilities during their K-12 journey, yet the built environments they encounter at each stage have traditionally been designed in isolation, with little continuity in spatial language, learning philosophy, or physical resources. Each new school is a reset with different layouts, learning models, expectations, and ways of moving through a building. The next generation of school design is making the case that the first day of kindergarten and the last day of high school can and should feel connected through common support systems and infrastructure in the physical environment.

  • Minnesota District Converts Middle School into Community Hub

    White Bear Lake Area Schools in White Bear Lake, Minn., recently announced the end of a major renovation project that converted a former middle school into a new centralized district and community hub, according to a news release.