The footbridges and rain garden along the undulating wood rain screen at the new Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., are more than lovely landscaping. Lined with large river stones and plants, the 400-ft-long bioswale filters rainwater captured on the roof before flowing it to wetlands abutting the 12.5-acre site. It also provides a natural buffer to the building’s windows, part of a passive security system designed to keep faculty, staff, students and parents safe without making them feel trapped when school begins later this month.
The job’s biggest school design challenge was to fortify the 88,000-sq-ft school without re-traumatizing the survivors of the Dec. 14, 2012, shooting that killed 20 first-graders and six adults. “We approached the school from Day One as a building that’s going to house wonderful children and needs to inspire them,” says architect Svigals + Partners principal Jay Brotman.