Photo: The school’s “Town Center” includes the gymnasium, cafeteria and media center. | Photo Credit (all): Greg Premru
By Lindsey Coulter
Building a new school is often a momentous occasion for a community, offering an opportunity to impact generations of students. Such was the case for Groton, Mass., which celebrated the grand opening of the new 110,000-square-foot Florence Roche Elementary School (FRES) in March. The project supports an innovative approach to learning but also reflects and welcomes the entire Groton community.
FRES, designed by Studio G Architects of Boston, is one of a growing number of schools developed in accordance with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) tenets. The student-centered methodology prioritizes flexible learning environments that offer students multiple ways to engage with their course material and demonstrate their learning, while offering teachers flexibility in how they introduce information and shape lessons. This progressive approach is best delivered in dynamic spaces that offer students and educators room to think big, explore new learning materials and get a little messy.
Community-Minded Design
Bringing UDL to students and teachers at Florence Roche Elementary was one of multiple goals for the project. In addition to better accommodating students’ learning styles, school leaders also wanted to address the previous building’s shortcomings. For example, the old school lacked air conditioning and storage space, the gymnasium was undersized and there was no dedicated 1:1 breakout space for students in need of extra support. Most significantly, however, the building was not big enough to serve the community’s growing student population, forcing the district to send more than 100 students to a neighboring elementary school.
In contrast, the new FRES, which was supported by the Massachusetts School Building Authority, is designed to serve 645 K-4 students. More than just a building, the environment fosters modern, flexible, and inclusive learning while serving as a microcosm of the larger Groton community: A tight-knit town that is proud of its walkable city center and is surrounded by miles of trails and lush woodlands. That sense of civic cohesion and organization provided design inspiration for FRES as well.
 “Every time we design a building, we want it to have a story and organizing principles that help guide the decisions,” said Marylee Mercy, AIA, NCARB, ALEP, project architect at Studio G Architects. “As we got to know the district leaders, we learned that the way the town of Groton is arranged is very meaningful to them.”
As such, the Studio G team organized FRES to include its own “Town Center,” which includes the gymnasium, cafeteria and media center. Playing on the idea of trails, the team integrated pathways off of the central core leading students to areas dedicated to their specific grade levels. The pathways feature graphic abstractions of trees and leaves as well as color-coded trailhead markers and bark-like graphic textures as a nod to the school’s woodsy surroundings. The floor patterns use color to create stepping stones, which increase movement as students hop from square to square. These touches also give each space a sense of meaning within the larger school environment and community environment.
Right School, Right Scale
Studio G worked collaboratively with the Town of Groton, the Groton-Dunstable Regional School District, project manager Leftfield Project Management (led by David Saindon, project executive) and construction manager Gilbane (led by Mike O’Brien, senior vice president and business unit leader for Gilbane in Massachusetts) to deliver the complex project.
While it was clear that the school needed more space, school officials were cautious about overbuilding.
“We had to make this large school feel smaller, and the grade-level neighborhoods really accomplished that,” said Meryl Nistler, AIA, LEED AP, WELL AP, NCARB, senior project manager at Studio G. “Students are seeing the same teachers and fellow students every single day, and they’re moving through the building as a group.”
The site, an existing campus that also includes two middle schools and a community youth center, also informed the design. As FRES specifically serves younger learners, the new building was purposely set back from the street for increased safety, allowing space for the Studio G team to develop a welcoming front plaza flanked by dedicated bus and drop-off lanes.
Incorporating Universal Design for Learning
Studio G was also careful to balance that sense of community with a design that truly supports UDL methodology, which centers on how learning materials are presented, how students choose to learn, and how they choose to represent their learning.
In seeking a designer for the project, FRES officials, including UDL pioneer Katie Novak, who at the time served as assistant superintendent, specifically sought firms with the ability to incorporate UDL tenets, ensuring that the physical space would meet the diverse needs of all learners and educators. The Studio G Architects team was eager for the creative challenge, watching Novak’s TED Talks, reading her research and diving deep into the methodology to deliver the best possible design solution.
“UDL is much more student focused,” Nistler explained. “For example, if the lesson is on the life cycle of a plant, the teacher might show videos, assign readings or lead small-group work. Then the students might choose to watch the video and then draw a picture of the plant or model it with clay. They have all learned the same material, but they can represent their learning in all these different ways. By being able to see each other’s work, it puts learning on display.”
To support this innovative approach, classrooms feature sinks and open shelves at child height, so teachers can put materials directly within reach of the students. Dedicated project areas that are available to all grade levels open to the main corridor, offering even more space and flexibility for class projects, messy science experiments or small-group breakout instruction. The first-floor project areas also have direct access to the outdoor learning area.
“Universal design really applies to any grade level, from preschool through higher education, but the younger a child is, the more they learn by experiencing the world, hands-on activities, playing and getting messy,” Mercy said.
Learn more about the design team’s neighborhood approach to spatial organization and how the design welcomes and reflects the Groton community in the .