Ebb Valley Elementary School
Manchester, Maryland
client
Carroll County Public Schools
size
72,100 sf; 590 students
type
New Construction
The site grades created a daunting design challenge with a continuous sloping hill on which to situate a building and the required site elements.
This led to a linear building solution, with stepped plateaus for parking, play areas and fields. The building mass is broken down into smaller volumes, which define separate classroom clusters and the cafeteria and gymnasium. The building’s specific placement on the site allows for a graded and landscaped hill behind the gym that is used as an outdoor amphitheater for education and performances.
Located in Carroll County, rich with rural heritage, Ebb Valley Elementary School provides a 21st Century learning model that resonates with the agricultural architecture of the area.
Clusters
Inside, the academic clusters are separated from the public areas. In all spaces, daylight and views to the surrounding landscape are maximized.
The state-of-the-art classroom cluster concept allows the young students to feel at home in their own spaces, even amidst the vast rural landscape beyond.
Closing Thoughts
Education Amidst Agriculture. Each volume incorporates a contextual gabled roof massing, rusticated masonry base, and iconic red metal siding, following the tradition of the surrounding barn buildings.
