project_ McKnight Middle School
client_ Renton School District
location_ Renton, Washington

The new McKnight Middle School is designed to serve 1,100 students with a high degree of technology infrastructure and innovative collaborative learning and teaching environments. It replaces an aging campus style facility on the same site.

This school is a home where students are discovering a larger world around them and creating a role for themselves in it. The school is a community within itself, with core facilities including commons, library and recreation centers serving students during the day and the community in the evening. The classroom wings are neighborhoods each with its own identity.

Positioning the new school on the north end of the site not only allowed occupancy of the current facility until the new school was completed, but took great advantage of the views of Mt. Rainier and the Olympics. The new site layout dramatically improved traffic safety between parents, busses and staff. The community jogging path on the site was a priority to include in the new site design.

The elegance of the building's masonry exterior is reflected throughout the interior of the core facilities. Around the building, distinct courts have been developed for student and public activities.