Title: Holy Innocents Episcopal School Humanities Building
Location of Proejct: Atlanta, Georgia
Project Completion Date: 06/21
Firm Name: Perkins and Will

Short Description: The new Holy Innocents Episcopal School Humantities Building has intentionally designed common areas, lounges, and nooks throughout the building create organic opportunities for collaboration. Flexible classrooms equipped with the latest instructional technology will allow students to move seamlessly between independent work and group projects while leveraging a world of ideas and information beyond the boundaries of campus.

The shared faculty office brings together world-class educators from English, History, Religion, and World Language departments, creating a hub to exchange knowledge and ideas across disciplines. Thus, dedicated space for innovation dissolves traditional silos and amplifies the talent of the teaching team.

Architect's Statement: A Building to Foster Collaboration, Innovation, and Community
The goal was to create a multidimensional architecture that communicates in all programmatic facets: celebrates innovative and accessible educational environments, creates sophisticated, yet playful, areas to collaborate, and provides purposeful, yet flexible, spaces focused toward developing the next generation of global students. Three project imperatives were identified to allow the building’s functions to be iteratively ‘tested’: collaboration, flexibility and character.

- The interior architecture was developed to promote discourse among the students and staff, invite both social and autonomous development throughout the building, and create spaces that can creatively transform to host a variety of functions with relative ease. Intentionally designed common areas, lounges, and nooks throughout the building create organic opportunities for collaboration.
- A flexible, shared faculty office brings together world-class educators from English, History, Religion, and World Language departments, creating a hub to exchange knowledge and ideas across disciplines. Thus, dedicated space for innovation will dissolve traditional silos and amplify the talent of the HIES teaching team―resulting in transformative learning moments for the students.
- The missions of HIES are evident through the character filtered throughout the entire building. Upon entry, one can see the donor wall with names that laid the foundation for the space, the student commons are buzzing with activity, the traditional Harkness room reflects advanced teaching ideologies, and the atrium stage provides a literal platform for students to learn and grow.

While the building design was completed in a pre-pandemic environment, the entire construction process took place in a COVID-19 climate, affecting product selections, lead times, and construction schedule. The team was under pressure to not only complete the building before the Fall 2021 school semester, but before the HIES Lower School began construction as well. The Humanities Building is part of a larger Master Plan for the school, and a catalyst for growth that will follow in the coming years. This project ushers in a new era of learning at HIES, which will be followed by a new Lower School in Fall 2022 and a new campus quad (that unites the two buildings) in 2023.