Garfield PK-8 School

A new school with innovative features to help rejuvenate a community

As part of an ongoing, district-wide reconstruction program, the Cleveland Metropolitan School District sought to replace its existing Garfield Elementary School. The school had been closed for several years, its students and staff displaced to other schools in the district. The new neighborhood school would accommodate 425 Pre-K through 8th grade students and renew a sense of community and identity that the neighborhood so needed.

The building’s predominantly east-west configuration captures daylight with minimal glare, resulting in well-lit, energy efficient spaces within. Inside, the massing creates atypical ceiling geometries and inspires bold patterns and colors on the floors and walls. Bright, warm spaces are outfitted with acoustic panels to control echoing and noise. The panels serve a second purpose as dropped ceilings, giving the rooms’ volumes a more human scale and softening the typically institutional appearance of a school.