Natrona County School District’s Pathways Innovation Center and Roosevelt High School in Casper, Wyoming, were recently awarded the Project of Distinction by the Association for Learning Environments (A4LE).
Designed by Cuningham Group Architecture in partnership with MOA Architecture, the high schools, which share one building, are designed to support student-driven learning and prepare the district’s high school students for success beyond graduation, whether it’s moving on to college or highly-skilled trade careers..
Opened in August 2016, Pathways is an individualized, career-focused academy, and Roosevelt is the district’s alternative high school featuring a wellness-based curriculum. The building’s design reflects teaching methods used at each school.
At the center of Pathways Innovation Center is its “Fabrication Hall,” a 5,000-square-foot, two-story common space surrounded by labs equipped with cutting-edge technology.
It encourages teams from all academies to collaborate on projects and is inspired by private-sector facilities, including Boeing Aerospace in Washington state, where engineering and design teams work under one roof.
This unique, sunlight-filled space is large enough to build homes and solar-powered airplanes. The hall has 16-feet-high, custom-fabricated glass bay doors that fully open to the outside.
On the inside, the hall is viewed from glass-walled design spaces, including a “floating blue box” overlooking the hall for informal learning. Pathways is open to 11th and 12th graders from the district’s three high schools.
It’s a state-of-the-art program connecting academics with real-world experiences in a wide range of fields, including engineering, arts and media, health science, agriculture and business.
Four academies feature innovation labs that are designed to reflect professional work settings and feature industry-standard equipment. Source by Cuningham Group Architecture, photo Courtesy of JSPR.