The Laura Dearing Elementary School affords the opportunity for a complete reimagination of the school campus founded in 1964 and expanded multiple times since. All existing buildings have been replaced except for a two-story classroom addition opened in 2017, and exterior circulation of the original campus has been replaced with primarily interior circulation to better. The replacement building is arranged as a “U” shape around a courtyard, with an open-air entry to the west (the center of the “U”) and with the south wing establishing a relationship as a disconnected linear extension of the existing building. The two classroom wings are oriented at an angle from one another so as to open up to views of the nearby Sunrise Mountain. The central courtyard area features an informal turf amphitheater for gathering, outdoor learning and play. The library, art room and teachers’ lounge function as a ‘bridge’ over the open-air entry and feature windows oriented out towards the featured view to connect students and staff with their neighborhood and environment. An outdoor garden area is designed to help the school maintain and existing gardening program that is very special to the staff and students. The classroom wings feature open activity commons and small group learning rooms to offer flexibility to break out groups or individuals throughout the course of instruction. Classrooms feature a mix of full and clerestory windows to balance the goals of providing natural light and retain usable wall space. Exterior materials include CMU in multiple colors and a mix of smooth and fluted textures, as well as a playful application of metals in 5 different colors. The interior design features colorful accents and patterns integrating into elements such as flooring and acoustical treatments. Building systems include redundancy in mechanical systems to keep the school operation in the event of failures or emergency repairs, and infrastructure designed to support a roof-mounted photovoltaic system, contributing the goals of resiliency and durability as the school looks forward to many more decades serving its community. This project was in collaboration with Punch Architecture who aided in the unique design of Laura Dearing Elementary School.