New Gilpin Manor Elementary School

Replacement Elementary School Expands Capacity to Provide a 21st Century Environment

The existing Gilpin Manor Elementary School was nearing the end of its useful life. Building infrastructure was failing and existing spaces were cramped and not effective in supporting 21^st Century teaching and learning. In addition, this building was to be the prototype for a future Cecil County Public Schools Elementary School.

The StudioJAED team faced several challenges in developing a solution, including:

• Utilizing the site effectively to also support increased traffic and parking at an adjacent public library facility.
• Designing a building that would easily prototype on a different site such that the District would save funding in the design of a future school.
• Developing an overall design in accordance with the Educational Specifications while at the same time being open to input from students, staff, and community.
• “Personalizing” the design to reflect the culture of the Gilpin Manor community.

The team worked with student, staff, and community stakeholders to develop a concept plan that provided the educational environment that would support and enhance the 21^st Century teaching and learning curriculum that was the hallmark of Cecil County Public Schools. In addition, the team worked with the staff at the adjacent Cecil County Public Library to provide additional parking for that facility that would serve the school during school days and hours and serve the additional parking needs of the Public Library in off hours.

Because new school construction was occurring within a few feet of the existing school, extra precautions were taken to assure the safety and security of all staff, students, and visitors to the existing school.

Discussions with Cecil County Public Schools were undertaken to ascertain probable locations for the future prototype elementary school so that any “special” site design considerations may be taken into account when developing the Gilpin Manor building.

In accordance with State of Maryland guidelines, the new Gilpin Manor Elementary School is designed to LEED™ Silver standards. StudioJAED’s in-house architecture and MEP engineering teams worked closely together to assure a comprehensive approach that was practical, within budget, and fully met the LEED™ requirements.

Overall, the new Gilpin Manor Elementary School, and eventually the future prototype elementary school, will be examples of superior learning environments that support 21^st Century teaching and learning, while at the same time, being great and welcoming places for staff to teach and children to learn.