The design progress for the new Avon Lake Middle School is moving forward following two significant engagement sessions held in late September. 

The design progress for the new Avon Lake Middle School is moving forward following two significant engagement sessions held in late September. The goal of these sessions was to allow users the opportunity to participate in the design process and gather feedback that could influence the design of the school's interior spaces, the overall layout, and educational opportunities for the future.

Engaging stakeholders, or the end-users who will be in the building, is a big part of the architectural design process. By proactively involving staff and residents, the district ensures the new facility will meet the educational needs of students and reflect the community’s vision for its schools.

Staff Engagement Focuses on Educational Practices 

On September 24th, the district and ThenDesign Architecture (TDA) hosted a two-hour session with the entire staff from Troy Intermediate and Learwood Middle School. This meeting was divided into several activities designed to capture feedback from the educators who will be using the spaces daily.

Given that the new middle school will be merging grades 5-8 into a single, almost 160,000 SF building, the staff concentrated on ways to seamlessly incorporate technology, modern educational practices, and opportunities for student collaboration into the new school. 

Key activities included:

• Identifying the pros and cons of their current buildings.

• Imagining new opportunities for students through pooled academic resources.

• Developing spatial relationship models for the new school.

Staff worked in small groups to provide detailed feedback, which will be incorporated into the initial layout studies.

Community Visioning Session Captures Broad Input

The second engagement was an Educational Visioning Session, which took place on September 30th in the Avon Lake High School Media Center. This four-hour meeting was built on the educators' feedback from the previous week and was designed to encourage brainstorming and gauge the community's preferences on the building layout, educational opportunities, and other components of the new school.

Attendees included district administration, teaching staff, parents, community leaders, and design and construction professionals. A central component of the session was small group work, where attendees worked together to provide input and ideas, then reported out to the broader group. A student panel also provided crucial insight into the student experience in their current buildings, and they shared creative ideas on how they could use future spaces. This direct input is vital to designing a school that serves its learners.

Activities for the community included:

• Working in small groups to identify any shortcomings in the existing buildings and community perception.

• Reporting on various categories for new features and considerations in the new building.

• Hearing from district leaders on the overall direction of education for the school.

• A question-and-answer period with the student panel.

• Developing layout plans for the school, considering spatial relationships, site entry/exits, and interior arrangements.

Next Steps

These feedback engagements formally kick off the next phase of the design process. The design team will now continue to examine the interior spaces and how the layouts can best support the district’s educational vision. In the upcoming weeks, architects will continue to meet with individual departments as the floor plans develop.

In the coming weeks, a report will be compiled for the community to get a better sense of the information discussed and how it could be implemented in the new school. 

For those with any questions on the project, feel free to reach out to the district using the following form: https://sites.google.com/view/avon-lake-building-alegacy/contact-us