Project profile: Marin Country Day School Learning Resource Center and Courtyard

Marin Country Day School’s Strategic Plan aspires to make ecological literacy an integral part of its curriculum, and to reinforce the students’ sense of connection with nature on their very special site. Throughout the design process, the project team worked to develop synergies between the physical campus and the school's educational program that would allow students to creatively tackle real, local issues using all the tools at their disposal. The students participated in the design process, researched options, documented the construction, monitored results, and taught their parents about the buildings once they were complete.

To connect students to the site, the design was also conceived around the outdoor spaces as much as around the buildings themselves. The various program elements are wrapped around the “Step-Up Courtyard,” the emotional heart of the campus where graduation takes place, and which links the Lower, Middle and Upper Schools together. The design strengthens the indoor-outdoor connection using narrow buildings footprints with ample shaded glazing, transparency and views.

The project includes a new library and technology center, art studios, classrooms and student services offices in 23,094 square feet of new buildings and 10,646 square feet of renovations. Site work included creek restoration, a new playground and the courtyard.
(2013 AIA/COTE Top Ten Green Projects recipient)