New Minnesota High School Features Industrial Tech Spaces

Minnesota’s Menahga High School opened its doors this week, while construction continues in a few areas of the school like the gym and the kitchen. The school is scheduled to be fully completed in October.

The two-level building is brightly lit with numerous windows and an open-air commons area.

“There’s so much natural light coming in,” Ashley Bachmann, a math teacher at the school, said. “I like all the different work spaces they’ve created, with tables and chairs. I think that’s so cool. It’s such a neat idea for kids to work versus just the classroom.”

The high school will feature state-of-the-art science labs, a metal shop with 10 welding stations and an industrial tech shop with small engine and small projects space. Principal Mark Frank told a local newspaper that the long-term goal is to assemble student teams who design and build their own ice-fishing houses.

The new gym scoreboard uses the same software as U.S. Bank Stadium. Students will be able to create graphics, like photos of the team lineups, for the new scoreboard.

About the Author

Yvonne Marquez is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Colorado School District Breaks Ground on Unified PK–12 Campus

    The Haxtun School District No. Re-2J in Haxtun, Colo., recently announced that ground has been broken on a renovation/addition project that will unite its two schools, Haxtun Elementary and Haxtun Jr/Sr High School, according to a news release.

  • Deferred Maintenance Issues Growing at Universities, Gordian Reports

    U.S. colleges and universities are falling increasingly behind on facilities maintenance and repair, according to Gordian’s 13th annual State of Facilities in Higher Education report. The deferred capital renewal burden has reached $156 per gross square foot, an 8% increase over the previous year.

  • Universities Continue to Launch Multimillion-Dollar Campus Transformations

    What makes the current wave of campus development especially noteworthy is its emphasis on multi-use functionality and community integration. Institutions are no longer investing solely in academic or athletic facilities in isolation. Instead, they are creating destinations that blend recreation, health, housing, and event-driven economic activity.

  • 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.