Echo Trail Middle School - 2024 AIA KY Honor Award

Echo Trail Middle School

Architect of Record: JRA Architects

Structural Engineer: Structural Services

Mechanical & Electrical Engineer: CMTA

Landscape Architect & Civil Engineer: Mindel Scott

General Contractor: Morel Construction

Owner: Jefferson County Public Schools

Location: Louisville, KY

Category: New Construction: Greater than $25M

WWW.JRARCHITECTS.COM

201994-4 Detail - A-B E Courtyard Looking W

201994-9 Interior - Media Center from SW Edit

The new school is an evocative hybrid, merging familiar, rural vernacular with unexpected application of traditional education materials, to elevate the relationship between learning and the environment. The optimized proportions of 3-team grade pods set a consistent footprint for the connected pavilions, which subtly step in plan to create destination moments in shared breakout learning spaces. Two-story massing capitalized on an existing, plateaued clearing to minimize site disturbance and protect the remarkable rural context. Careful composition of durable, utilitarian materials honor the district’s mandate, yet act to unify learning communities and support academic adaptability.

Additional Information

“Clever allegorical whimsy brings this composition to life through a reinterpretation of ‘rural vernacular’. Stable forms built of robust materials and set quietly in the clearing allows the playful articulation to unfold as we approach.” -Jury Comment

Jury

David Black, AIA, Design Principal and Partner, Flad Architects, Madison, WI (Jury Chair)
Michael P. Eberle, AIA, Founding Partner, Aro Eberle Architects, Madison, WI
Jeffrey Charles Raasch, AIA, Architect, adjunct university instructor, Taliesin Preservation Board, WI
James W. Shields, FAIA, Design Principal, HGA Architects & Engineers, Milwaukee, WI