Middle Tennessee Christian High School

Planning

Learning

The first project to come out of a year-long assessment and master-planning process, this new facility for Middle Tennessee Christian School is to create a stand-alone High School building, separating the Middle and High Schools into their own dedicated facilities.  The project includes a two-story, 25-classroom addition wrapping two sides of an existing gymnasium building.  Included in the project is the creation of an outdoor classroom and courtyard space between existing buildings to foster gathering and community inside and outside of the building.  A future baptistry is planned as the focal point to the courtyard space, an outward and visible symbol of the faith-based education offered here. 

The design inspiration for the building evolved from the idea of “family” and “home”.  The gable roof forms evoke a residential aesthetic while still providing a modern institutional and college preparatory atmosphere.  The interior spaces include a communal “living room”, while providing ample collaborative, flexible gathering and teaching spaces, intertwined within traditional classrooms and lab spaces.  Attention was paid to each classroom wing and area, so that the student’s environment varies throughout the day and from class to class.  Each wing of the building is branded according to one of the four pillars of the school’s academic philosophy, and a focal entry art installation is planned to speak to the generations of students from the past, and their “letters” to the future generations still to come through these doors.