Forging new future for town’s first new school in over a decade

Edmond’s growth as a city is reflected in the large numbers of students crowding the halls of its elementary and middle schools. The completion of Heartland Middle School allowed for a significant step toward easing this overcrowding. Master planned for 1,200 students in grades 6-8, the facility shares its site with the already existing Frontier Elementary, and the design merges both into an aesthetically pleasing campus atmosphere.

FSB’s architects and engineers first held workshops to gain insights from everyone who would be using the school including administrators, teachers, coaches and janitorial staff, to create a single unified vision. From those meetings, the team created a two-story design with a student commons, student collaboration areas and a unique “learning stair” to provide students with both assembly and presentation spaces. The dynamic media center contains computer labs, a robotics lab and other interactive technology. Spaces and classrooms are open and all furniture is mobile so teachers and students can rearrange groups to accommodate a wide variety of activities and events.

The competition gymnasium, designed for indoor sports and use as a general community area, features an acoustical metal deck supported by open web steel joists. A practice gymnasium is available for student activities and is reinforced to double as a safe room which can accommodate the entire student body in case of a weather or security emergency. Multiple classrooms are constructed to meet safe room standards as well. The campus grounds feature an educational courtyard, outdoor amphitheater, competition baseball and softball fields, and practice amenities for track, football and tennis.

Construction on the school was coordinated so as to not interfere with operation of its neighbor, Frontier Elementary. Necessary adjacent construction was performed during the summer months and during spring break, to avoid blocking student and parent access during the regular school year.