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Design Concept Award
New Brunswick High School This project included more than the usual and customary handful of community members in its planning process -City and County planning agencies, the local housing authority, community arts organizations, the public library system, and local businesses and environmental organizations all participated in planning efforts. As a result of this enlarged vision for what is possible in a high school, this project includes a school-based daycare facility for students with children, a school-based health services facility, as well as school and community-based counseling offices providing services to targeted student populations. Sometimes such a significant emphasis on community planning results in the educational opportunities being of a lesser priority, but in this case a great deal of flexibility was planned into the organization of classrooms, resource areas, and labs so that the curriculum might be organized in a variety of ways to serve students' needs, and small autonomous learning communities of 200 can be accommodated. In addition, the project is designed to qualify for LEED certification, and incorporates several sustainable design features. While the architectural images of the building evoke neither a sense of warmth or welcome, this project is distinctive in that it has incorporated best practices from educational planning, community planning, and sustainability.
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