Based on planning begun over 10 years ago, the Mount Prospect Elementary School has been upgraded and expanded, adding a 2-story twelve classroom addition of nearly 16,000 SF to the existing 87,000 SF structure. The new work houses six early childhood classrooms complete with viewing rooms and individual restrooms on the ground level and new 5th grade general classrooms on the second floor. The new addition completes a courtyard central to the school to provide both interior and exterior learning environments at the existing media center.

Maintaining and matching the character, materials and details of the existing building and surrounding neighborhood was the most critical challenge. Since the original building was recently constructed, making the new work appear as if it was original to the design was vital to the project’s success.

The two story classroom wings are covered with an A-frame roof system that gives the building a residential vocabulary as it sits at the center of the residential (student) population it serves. On seventeen acres of donated property within what is now a fully built-out residential development, the school is located prominently atop a hill, commanding views to all points in the Township.