Verrado High School Plannning
Buckeye, AZ

Created to be a different social structure than traditional schools, this high school’s educational plan was developed to create more intimate groups within the larger high school.  The strategy developed was to have enrolling students enter into one of the communities and remain in that community for their four years at the school.  Each of these communities were to have a common area in the center with open classrooms surrounding. The upper and lower grades were to be partially separated by a common conference room that intruded into the central space to provide some autonomy.  A common science classroom was provided in each community.  The open nature was intended not only for the student’s benefit but was to encourage interdisciplinary teaching among the teachers.  The remaining common and specialty classrooms were to be separated from the communities so that everyone felt a part of the large whole.  A focus was on an engineering and technical laboratory, which was to be very open and flexible.

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Paul Winslow, FAIA, was the architect of record and worked closely with the district Superintendent and the Curriculum Team to create a new model for teaching and learning. He also led the programming process, the design, and oversaw the construction administration while working at Orcutt/Winslow.

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The Kamehameha Middle School Educational and Planning staff, spent a week touring the school and interacting with the students and the faculty to learn how the open concept school could be translated to their new Middle School in Hawaii, since Paul was also working with them on the educational design development.

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