Replacing two nearby aging schools, Oak Point Associates designed a new elementary/middle school and associated site amenities on a site located adjacent to Monmouth Academy. The two-story, 70,000 square foot building accommodates approximately 484 students. From the initial stages of concept development, Oak Point Associates worked closely with the Maine State Department of Education (DOE) as well as school officials and occupants to determine their specific current and future needs. The layout of the school allows for robust visual monitoring of the building approach and a secure main entrance. The administration suite, special services, music, art, library, learning lab, health, cafeteria, and gymnasium are located along a main, shared-use corridor. A two-story classroom wing provides learning spaces for pre-Kindergarten through 5th-grade students with the older children occupying the second floor. A separate wing was constructed for middle school classrooms. The classroom wings are capable of being remotely locked off from the main corridor.
The school site included a dedicated roadway that could accommodate school buses, a separate entrance/exit with adequate space for parent drop-off and pick-up, parking lot, middle school-sized baseball field, softball/multipurpose field, two basketball courts, and separate playgrounds for pre-Kindergarten and elementary school-aged children. Because of the existing sloping topography of the site, careful consideration was given to the layout of the site elements and grading to create a layout that minimized development costs while ensuring a harmonious fit with the surrounding area and maintaining code-compliant access for all site features.
Extensive review was required by several municipal and state agencies. This included Maine DOE; Town of Monmouth Police, Fire and Code Enforcement Departments; Monmouth Sanitary and Utilities Districts; Cobbossee Watershed District; Maine Department of Environmental Protection; and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.