Title: Global Impact Academy
Location of Proejct: Fairburn, GA
Project Completion Date: May 2021
Firm Name: Cooper Carry

Short Description: Global Impact Academy in Fairburn, Georgia is designed to encourage experience and discovery through hands-on, peer-to-peer learning in a woodland setting. The STEM school provides students with three career pathways: engineering, healthcare science, and information technology. The cutting-edge science and engineering laboratories, medical simulation facilities, and a game design and VR hub were created to foster inventive ideas and problem-solving techniques. A fresh, modern interior design with open spaces for gathering gives students’ agency of where they learn best. The Academy is a dynamic environment where students can learn, grow, and aspire to become future leaders and influencers.

Architect's Statement: The team was challenged with designing a building that offered flexibility, while also providing an environment where students could be inspired by “see-doing.” Built on 40 acres of a former farmstead, the design team explored how previous generations cultivated the land when nature was fundamental in their everyday lives. While the site’s terraced farmland became heavily wooded over time, remnants of the past inspired the design team of what could be again.

The best way to preserve the landscape is to appreciate its views, shade, and opportunities for gathering and exploration. Building upon this natural setting, the design process led to a modern agrarian aesthetic with a high-performance façade and natural materials. The building is situated so that the prominent building facades face north and south to maximize energy efficiency and harvest daylight. However, daylight is controlled to maintain views of the land and make a positive impact on building loads with roof overhangs and shading devices. Low canopies and glass walls frame the transition from interior spaces to outdoor gathering areas. This created the opportunity to display how rainwater is strategically managed. Students can observe how rain chains move water to landscaped areas and bioswales to understand stormwater control.

A tree survey helped preserve old-growth shade trees, and those pines that were cleared were harvested for construction as part of the renewable lifecycle. Pine brings the qualities of nature to the interiors. Connecting the building to its environment through biophilic design helps the students and community link past to present and be more aware of their surroundings.

Two color treatments were utilized in the interior design, natural and black, to give the building a fresh, modern look, in keeping with the technology-focused curriculum. Black, shiny tile on the walls reflects the light streaming in through the windows. Gypsum completes the aesthetic. Furnishings complement the style in cobalt, lime green, and gray. The mature style fits the higher order learning the school impresses upon its students.

The building’s spaces were separated into two categories to define the school’s indoor and outdoor gathering areas: 1) stackable classrooms, science labs, and offices; and 2) high-bay engineering labs and shops, auditorium, and gymnasium.

A central commons area was outfitted with “plug and play” technology to combine the cafeteria and media center, creating a flexible central hub for gathering, “Ted Talk” presentations, and engagements with business partners. A variety of seating options give these spaces a “Starbucks” feel to support social interaction, collaboration, and innovation.

A rigorous programming process yielded a 10’-8” x 30’-0” planning module to create the science labs, classrooms, huddle rooms, and offices. The utilization of drywall partitions clad with ceramic tile, in lieu of concrete masonry units, eroded the typical harsh institutional look and feel. The planning module allows the school to transform the spaces more easily to meet future needs. In a departure from traditional classroom organization, the classroom and science lab pods can transform into contiguous collaboration spaces via operable partitions, glass garage doors, and extended learning spaces to support team-based learning. Collated big box high-bay spaces are more nuanced and right-sized to fit programmatic needs. Tiered seating is also an option in classrooms, to ensure all students have a complete view of the teacher and board. Throughout the building, students can see and be inspired by the exposed building systems as well as the transparent classroom partitions that allow them to view others “seeing-doing” science. The mix of spaces give students the agency to choose how and where they best learn, making the building their own.