Hunnewell Elementary School

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Nestled in a small 5.5-acre site in Wellesley, MA, the new Hunnewell Elementary School provides inspiring learning environments in the Town’s first net-zero ready school building. 

Due to aging infrastructure and outdated learning spaces, the school’s previous home no longer met the needs of students and educators. Faced with a declining population and a constrained site, the Town turned to SMMA to deliver on both its net-zero goals and its vision for progressive education.  

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. 

Why MA Schools are Embracing Net Zero Energy

42%

Carbon Reduction

7.1 Years

Payback

26.5

EUI (kBtu/sf)

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. 

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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. 

“This building is a dream come true. We get to use it every single day, but it is a community asset and one that we are so lucky to have.”

Ellen Quirk, Hunnewell Elementary School Principal 

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