Construction Cost: $11,000,000
Completion Date: 2006.08

Completed in Fall 2006, Carpenters Elementary School was the first of two new elementary schools planned for the Blount County, Tennessee community. Cockrill Design & Planning, in association with Lewis Group Architects, designed the school to serve as a benchmark for the Blount County School System. Built to initially serve 650 elementary-school students, the facility is expandable to serve 1,000.

The new 105,000 square foot facility created distinctive challenges for the design team, including the protection of the site’s existing wetland and blue line stream, adherence to a fast-track schedule to accommodate the school’s desired opening date, and equivalence to other schools in the system.

To address the design challenges and to create spaces that are both inspiring and inviting, the design team incorporated a calming and cheerful interior color palette that accentuates classroom pop-outs with windows placed at seated-child height, light-filled entry spaces, shorter corridor lengths, and textured façade walls. Future outdoor classroom spaces were also created by integrating a courtyard feature in the design. The new facility provides all of the amenities of a contemporary school while providing a personalized setting for faculty and students.

Photography by Robert Batey.