by Russell Boniface
Associate Editor

Math and science students at Roanoke Academy for Mathematics and Science (RAMS) literally are surrounded with their lessons.

RAMS is an 84,000-square-foot, pre-K–5 elementary school located in a 27-acre park in residential Roanoke, Va. Local architect Spectrum Design centered the exterior and interior design of the school, which opened in 2005, on creating a “building that would teach” through its architectural spaces and details. RAMS is a federally funded magnet school, meaning it is a public school that draws students interested in specific subjects—in this case, math and science. It also offers a program for disabled adult students.

Architect David Bandy, AIA, Spectrum’s principal, vice president, and director of design, led the RAMS project. Bandy, who has received design recognition from the Virginia State AIA and the Blue Ridge Chapter of Virginia AIA, worked with his team, school administrators, teachers, students, and the surrounding neighbors to gather ideas for the unique school. Bandy, who has extensive expertise in educational architecture, believes that schools should be buildings that teach—that architectural details need to convey a lesson or purpose. He and his team arrived at a design concept for RAMS that incorporates math and science lessons while also reflecting the neighborhood’s existing architectural style.

Building math, science, and fun into design
Spectrum’s vision for RAMS, a multipurpose facility for 500 students, was both aesthetic and functional. Bandy explains that the Roanoke community didn’t want a building for warehousing students. Rather, they thought their new school should be a place where children would want to go. “We knew that we wanted to build a school that made learning fun,” says Bandy. But having the academy’s building also play an important role in the teaching process was on the minds of the faculty—a concept right in the Spectrum wheelhouse, invoked in many of its Virginia projects. “Teachers wanted the building to teach children through its architecture. They wanted it to be able to illustrate math, science, and art through the building’s architecture and interior elements.”

RAMS is divided into three “neighborhoods” that serve as hubs to a welcoming “Main Street” streetscape design. This idea is meant to reinforce the concept of “neighbor”—that all ages can come together. Two neighborhoods are anchored by a lab—a math lab and a science lab—that house a total of 30 classrooms. One neighborhood accommodates the needs of younger children, while the other meets the needs of older students. A third neighborhood is a wing for the city's REACH (Recovery Education and Creative Healing) program for disabled adult students with mental illness. This wing features a kitchen, laundry facilities, sheltered play areas, storage for large toys and art supplies, and an outdoor play area with a big-wheel track. The parent drop-off is also located on this side of the building, keeping younger children closer to their classrooms.

Keeping the community in mind was important to Spectrum. Bandy incorporated the area’s residential architecture into the design, taking pictures of Roanoke houses and their roof dormers, roof lines, and large windows. He incorporated various types of brick, eight major mortars, interior and exterior trusses, beams and purlins, all the while keeping in mind how each piece of construction could be used for math and science teaching. “There are even educational lessons in the joints and mortar,” says Bandy. “The great thing is it didn’t cost more money to do this. It was just a matter of being more artful in the way we designed the building.” The result was a “village” façade of varied rooflines that reflect the dimensions of the neighborhood homes. The school’s landscaping of flowers, trees, berms, and grasses provide the capstone to that “at-home” feeling while generating visible and open space for security.

Going down Main Street
The main entrance of “Main Street” introduces students to a fun environment, deviating from a traditional cinder-block, windowless design. As students walk in the front door, they will first see the school’s media center—the focal point of the entranceway—behind a wall of glass. Above, fluorescent lights hang askew at playful angles to creative visual interest. (The lights are called the “train wreck” by students.) From there, students are exposed to a math- and science-oriented design throughout the building and the campus.

For example, open trusses in the art studio show students the mechanics of structure; Venn diagrams, the Golden Ratio, and Pythagorean Theorem are patterned in the floor tiles; and hallways with lampposts, replicas of Frank Lloyd Wright-designed windows, and plant structures reinforce geometric shapes. And, large amounts of glass and more than 80 different colors make up the palette a student might see in a day. “Color creates interest and also helps to visually define the different functional areas within the classroom, such as areas for play or study,” Bandy notes.

Windows in every classroom feature a replica of a Frank Lloyd Wright design that also might be incorporated into a math or science lesson. Other designs with math and science principles include the floors, walls, and ceilings. RAMS’ faculty is ecstatic. “Before they ever put pencil to paper, David sat down with the teachers and listened to our needs,” says Ron Salmon, third grade science teacher at RAMS. “He knew that this school had a unique math and science mission and that was the primary goal of the entire school. And believe me, this school is a teacher’s dream.”

The community agrees. Roanoke residents are encouraged to use the building after hours for meetings and classes. Labs, conference areas, a large cafetorium, an art studio with kiln, and music areas can all be separated from classroom space. A full gymnasium also sees regular weekend use for adult and youth activities. “At the top of our front entrance is a cornice with a pineapple at its center,” describes Bandy. “In Colonial America, a pineapple signaled hospitality, and that’s the message we want to convey to the community.”

Making connections
RAMS’ Main Street connects the math and science labs, media center, computer lab, extended learning areas, and administrative areas with plenty of glass for visibility and added security, e.g., the music lab is visible from the main corridor. From the front entrance and subsequent media center, students can go in either of two directions down RAMS’ Main Street. They will see “guidance suites” and the math and sciences labs, key to the school's core mission. These labs are fully interactive, including “smart boards” and computer terminals. Lab counters and sinks are set at appropriate heights for different ages. The science lab has an attached greenhouse. There is an outdoor garden in the “village” with a 15-foot diameter fish pond, sculpture display area, and various soil types. There are even outdoor rain gauges and a sundial to study weather, climate, rainfall, and seasonal changes.

All classrooms have operational windows that reach the floor to meet the teachers’ request for an abundance of natural light. Spectrum designed extended classrooms where students can come together for shared projects, such as when they form an inflatable planetarium. There are two 2,500-square-foot outside porches, which can also be enclosed and provide an expansion option. The window design differs for each grade level. These neighborhoods also feature—as per faculty request—teacher storage, work rooms, and one-on-one instruction rooms for tutoring and testing.

What’s in the attic?
Although there may not be treasure in the school’s attic, there are state-of-the-art HVAC systems—an economic treasure to the RAMS faculty, who wanted reduced-energy costs. As a result, two natural gas-fired boilers, an air-cooled water chiller, plus all the data systems and electrical wiring are housed in the “attic”—a dormer meant to eliminate unsightly roof-units. The attic design also allows for easy maintenance via catwalks, much to the delight of the school’s maintenance team. All HVAC equipment is controlled by digital electronic controls. A VAV system provides individual room control and reduced fan operation cost.

A cost-efficient concept
RAMS was constructed for less than $100 per square foot, which is the average cost for elementary schools in Virginia. “We gave great thought in the way the design impacted the overall cost,” explains Bandy. “Although we were able to offer many enhancements in the design, the project was completed under budget,” noting that the project, cost just over $10 million.

Adds Salmon, “Before the new building opened, this magnet school was located in a 1950s-era converted junior high school . . . nine-foot-high ceilings that echoed, no place to perform any hands-on experiments, drab concrete block walls. Now, you can feelthe energy here. You can see it in the way the kids learn, the way they interact. I find that I stay afterschool longer—it's just such a pleasant place
to be.”

Bandy is still delighted when he watches young students enter the Roanoke Academy for Mathematics and Science for the first time. “Their eyes widen, and they mouth a silent ‘wow.’ Frankly, few of them have ever seen a school quite like this before.”

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