Marlon Blackwell Architect

Montessori Elementary School . Fayetteville

Marlon Blackwell Architect . photos: © Timothy Hursley

The Montessori Elementary School sits in the small triangular remainder of a site prone to flooding and houses classrooms, a conference room, and a new commercial kitchen.

As the first building constructed in accordance with the Fayetteville Streamside Protection Act, significant site restrictions helped form the Fayetteville Montessori Elementary School. Considerable setbacks reduced the buildable area to a small triangle in the southwest corner of the site. Combined with a limited budget and an aggressive schedule, the design had to negotiate strict environmental criteria while accommodating urgent need for classrooms for grades 1-4, a conference room, and a new commercial kitchen. The ground floor opens to include a raingarden that retains and filters rainwater to help mitigate flooding. A green roof atop the single-story eastern volume also helps reduce runoff and serves as further insulation. A second floor is provided along the western edge, housing additional classrooms.

The material palette is kept deliberately simple, durable, and economical, with clear cypress providing a warm and inviting tactility to the southern elevation and entry porch. The cypress reappears above the covered play area, which is the one extension allowed into the flood plain. Pre-finished box-rib metal panels are the primary cladding for both volumes, carefully detailed to elevate this humble material through craftsmanship. This delicate balance between program, budget, and environmental demands results in a taut, high performance school, filled with abundant natural light and invites students, parents and teachers alike to explore the relationship between the built environment and the natural world, as evidenced by the owner’s collection of fossils and other artifacts of nature. Born of its site and certified LEED Silver, the Fayetteville Montessori illustrates that a shared commitment to economy and environmental performance is not exclusive, but can inform and act as an inspiration for the design.

Formal name of building: Fayetteville Montessori Elementary School
Location: Fayetteville Arkansas
Address: Fayetteville Montessori School, 2358 N Green Acres Rd., Fayetteville, Arkansas 72703
Completion Date (Month and Year): August 2012
Gross square footage: 7,937
Total construction cost: $1,418,800
Owner: Victoria Butler, Director, Fayetteville Montessori School
Marlon Blackwell Architect – Design Architect and Architect of RecordMarlon Blackwell FAIA Principal in Charge and Design Architect.
MBA Project Team: Meryati Johari Blackwell Assoc. AIA, NCDIQ, ASID, LEED AP BD+D – Project Director, Bradford Payne- Project manager, Jonathan Boelkins AIA, William Burks Assoc. AIA, Stephen Reyenga Assoc. AIA, Michael Pope Assoc. AIA, Justin Hershberger, Assoc. AIA

General contractor: Nabholz Construction Corporation
Ann Miller-Project Manager, Bryan Hayden - Superintendent
Structural Engineer: Myers-Beatty Engineering, PLLC
Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, Fire Protection Engineer: HP Engineering Inc.
Civil Engineer: Bates & Associates, Inc.
Landscape Architect: Appian Inc.
Lighting Designer: HP Engineering Inc.
Geotechnical Consultant: GTS, Inc.
LEED Project Team: Marlon Blackwell Architect and HP Engineering Inc.
General contractor: Nabholz Construction Corporation
Photographer(s): Timothy Hursley
Renderer(s): Marlon Blackwell Architect
CAD system, project management, or other software used: Revit.