The new school meets net zero ready standards.
This is achieved through a robustly insulated, airtight building enclosure with a 25% window-to-wall ratio, extensive use of solar panels on the building’s roof, triple glazed windows, and all-electric heating and cooling systems.
Hunnewell Elementary School exceeds Wellesley’s rigorous stretch energy code by nearly 40%, with an EUI score of just 26.5.
The design reimagines the school’s educational layout.
Gone are the siloed classrooms of the old building. In its place is a new layout with three classrooms per grade level, each connected to a shared learning hub. This allows for flexible learning styles, better collaboration, and a more connected learning experience for students and teachers.
The school’s art, music, and innovation spaces are grouped together, encouraging creativity across disciplines. The transparent media center and library, located at the heart of the school on the second floor, serves as a hub for knowledge sharing.
Interior spaces embrace a connection with nature.
Tying into Wellesley’s deep appreciation for the outdoors, an illuminated tree environmental graphic reminds students of the world beyond the classroom walls. Durable wooden benches and accents throughout the building create a warm and inviting atmosphere. Each grade level boasts its own color scheme, with calming greens for the younger students transitioning to cooler blues for the upper grades.
