Horizon Elementary School

A neighborhood school grows — through COVID and rising costs — without losing sight of what mattered most.

Summary

Type

Location

Everett, Washington

Client

Mukilteo School District

size

9,000 to 17,000 square feet

Phase

Completed

Design Problem

A growing student body needed their school to grow with them — with more room to learn, gather, and play.

A new gym alongside the existing multi-purpose room, expanding capacity for overlapping classes, lunch, and events
A new two-story classroom building with eight learning spaces and flexible breakout areas
A new covered play structure and playground
Modernized communal spaces with improved site circulation and security

Design Approach

The new gym was designed alongside the existing multi-purpose room, opening an expanded seating area in front of the existing stage and creating a new, welcoming face to the street. The addition also provided covered bus waiting at a new bus circle. The stage, which doubled as the music room, and the kitchen were modernized alongside.

At the opposite end of the campus, a new two-story classroom building and covered play area were planned to strengthen the connection between the main building, the playground, and the portable classrooms — drawing the full campus together.

Proposed Gym addition with covered bus drop-off.

Proposed Covered Play and Classroom addition as a transition between the playground and court yard.

COVID Changed Everything

The project was in design when the pandemic hit — and construction costs climbed faster than anyone anticipated. Scope had to be rethought, then rethought again, within a budget that couldn't move. Flex areas were reduced. Materials and methods were simplified. The existing covered play structure was adapted into the new gym, with the campus heat plant relocated to make room. In the end, the classroom building was removed from the scope entirely — freeing up the funds needed to deliver the gym and the spaces that were needed the most.

Conversion of existing covered play area into a new Gym.

Result

The gym addition complements the existing architecture without trying to match it — a deliberate choice that lets each era of the campus speak for itself. The aged wood trusses of the old covered play now live inside the new gym, quietly telling the story of what came before. The existing multi-purpose room, entryways, music room, and kitchen were all refreshed. The new covered play and playground were sited to leave room for the classroom building that still lies ahead — keeping the future within reach.