DURHAM PUBLIC SCHOOLS MURRAY-MASSENBURG ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

2023 AIA Triangle Merit Award - Unbuilt

Location: Durham, North Carolina
Project Size: 135,000 SF

This new community beacon is a direct fusion of the 21st-century learning goals outlined by Durham Public Schools and the uniquely wooded and hilly site. The interwoven relationship between the natural and built environment permeates the project. The school is organized around a central courtyard to maintain a compact footprint, take advantage of the site’s natural topography, and foster a sense of community among students, teachers, and parents. Upon entering the main lobby, students have a direct view into the courtyard and the woods beyond. The compact layout ensures the scale of the building is tailored to the young students, reduces the length of overwhelmingly long hallways, and ensures students maintain a connection to the outdoors. Each turn of the building becomes a visually open learning commons that allows learning to spill beyond the walls of the classroom. A bridge housing the school’s shared programs—media center, art, and music spaces—spans over the east edge of the courtyard and creates the sense of learning in the middle of the woods. The bridge’s 136-foot clear span truss structure and other building systems are put on display, turning the building into a living laboratory to pique the curiosity of tomorrow’s leaders.