Sacred Heart Lower and Middle Schools, Master Plan and Campus Design

This new Pre-K through 8 campus supports SHS’ mission to educate the whole child; to model social awareness, sustainability and community; and to support interaction and cross-disciplinary learning.

The campus includes four new buildings, 85,000 square feet total: two classroom buildings, an assembly hall / performing arts building, and a library. Modernizations and renovations include several classrooms, an art room, the lower and middle school gym, and the preschool.

The new buildings are organized about a large, landscaped space anchored by an existing building and three mature oaks. Shaded tree canopies provide a connection to nature and history, and a large garden offers outdoor learning and gathering spaces that encourage interdisciplinary discovery. Courtyards with native, drought-tolerant plantings accommodate informal gatherings, breakout sessions, and seminars, putting learning on display and extending the classroom outside.

Additional spaces allow students to witness migrating butterflies, watch rainwater disappear into the pervious paving and flowthrough planters, and collect in native plant gardens, learn under a grove of 80-year-old oak trees, and harvest fruit nourished by rainwater collected on the library roof.

LEED Gold, LEED Platinum, Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) and the Living Building Challenge were used to establish project goals. The campus will be certified LEED Gold, and the new library — a campus hub and regional model of sustainability — will be LEED Platinum, Net Zero Energy and Net Zero Water, achieving Petal certification and Net Zero certification per the International Living Future Institute.