Carpenters Elementary School

Carpenters Elementary School, adjacent to Carpenters Middle School in south Blount County, is currently serving up to 800 students in grades K-5. The school is designed using two pairs of rectangular buildings stacked transversely along a main corridor. At one end of the corridor is the main entrance, administration, and parent drop-off area; at the other end is the gymnasium, bus dropoff, and playground area. Addressing the school system’s desire for expandability, the spine-like planning concept allows for new classroom wings to be added behind existing ones in the future. Some of the school’s features include over 30 classrooms, music and fine arts areas, a media center, a full-size gym, a commons with a portable stage, and computer laboratories. The campus, which includes a baseball field, carefully negotiates a blue line stream, ravine, and wetlands area.

The school, primarily contemporary in design, utilizes abundant natural lighting as an architectural feature in addition to conventional building materials. Selective use of materials including brick, storefront, metal siding, and signage animate the prefabricated metal building shell, and soft colors playfully animate both the interior and exterior of the school. Building materials are skillfully detailed to link inside and outside spaces, especially at the courtyards between academic wings.