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

  • Indiana University Launches Capital Campus in D.C.

    Indiana University recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new IU Capital Campus in Washington, D.C., according to university news. The eight-story facility will provide a central hub for the university’s existing programs and business operations based in D.C., uniting them under one roof and providing the opportunity to expand.

  • Classical building columns display digital data streams

    The Campus Nervous System: Why Facilities Risk Is Now a Leadership Issue in Higher Education

    Facility performance now intersects with safety, compliance, on-campus experience, institutional reputation, and financial resilience. That places it firmly on the leadership agenda.

  • California High School Opens New Classroom Building for 7th-, 8th-Graders

    Santa Rosa City Schools in Santa Rosa, Calif., recently announced the completion of a new classroom building for Piner High School. As the campus transitions to a Junior/Senior High School, the facility will play home to the school’s new population of seventh- and eighth-grade students.

  • Designing for Every Mind

    Learning environments have the power to shape not just what students know, but who they become. When a school is designed with genuine empathy—for the full range of ways students think, sense, and engage with the world—it becomes more than a building. It becomes a catalyst for growth, confidence, and belonging. That is the animating idea behind neurodiverse design, and it is one that is transforming how more architects and designers are thinking about school design.