With influence from the successful Bridgewood and Kemptville schools, Swift Waters was an adapted design to suit the unique functional requirements of both the program and site. The school’s location was deliberately set back from a busy thoroughfare, allowing for the inclusion of a circulation route that provides access into parking and a loop for buses to turn without impeding parent drop-off and pick up, enhancing safety by allowing for a clear flow of traffic.
The new school for K-6 students includes a separate childcare wing as well as a community Early On centre. The theme of active learning was incorporated throughout the design. Ample use of natural lighting, skylights, large classroom windows, and shared resource rooms between classrooms are all part of the enhanced learning strategies and transparency the school provides. On behalf of Architecuture49, we donated children’s books to the school for the developmental learning of the students. Further features that enable diverse ways of learning and sharing are the multi-purpose learning and collaboration commons, an open area near the centre of the school between classrooms that can be used for a variety of programming and group events as well as operable partitions between classrooms, that allow for collaboration between groups.