Vel Phillips Middle School
The new middle school marks the initial stride in the district's consolidation endeavors, creating a unified facility for students.
Need: Support the district’s consolidation goals.
Solution: Design a new middle school that joins together students from Merrill and Webster Stanley Middle schools and their communities.
Result: A unified, modern facility that incorporates design elements from the previous two middle schools.
Awards
- International Interior Design Association (IIDA) Award of Excellence
Fact Sheet
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Location
Oshkosh, WISize
229,700 sq ftConstruction Cost
50,100,000Client Type
Spotlights of the School
The focal point of the middle school revolves around the atrium (cafeteria/commons), which provides visibility to the technology, engineering, art, and family & consumer science learning spaces to inspire students and showcase real world learning. Additional spotlights:
- The media center serves as both a resource for students and a collaborative meeting space for the community.
- The learning stairs provide students with a unique place to study, eat lunch, and, of course, functions as a staircase.
- Classroom areas facilitate 21st century learning with collaborative doors connecting classrooms and access to a larger hub space.
- The music wing is a haven for musicians designed to inspire creativity and foster a love for music.
Honoring the legacies
Uniting Legacy and Innovation
The old Merrill and Webster Stanley Middle Schools still live on at the new Vel Phillips Middle School. Design elements incorporated into the facility followed a theme of unity to symbolize the old schools and represent the new.
The exterior building design is modern yet timeless, nodding to the historical context of the neighborhood and nearby downtown through the architectural style and brick and stone material used. Interior elements are overlapping, stitching, and interweaving — symbolic of unifying communities. Hardwood floors from the previous schools were reclaimed and intertwined amongst others, while reclaimed bleacher boards were used in the events lobby as built-in benches.
