Site and Building as Teachers

PROJECT OVERVIEW

An important part of the Bainbridge Island School District, Captain Johnston Blakely Elementary School serves the families of South Bainbridge Island, a community treasured for its beautiful, rural environment of northwest forest and Puget Sound shoreline. Inspired by a legacy of lumber milling, the unique site topography and geology, and a highly collaborative teaching philosophy, the new 68,000 square foot school nestles into the sloped forest to blend indoor and outdoor learning environments and connect children with nature.

Unique “L”-shaped learning pods offer flexibility for shared learning and student agency, and high performance design infuses spaces with daylight and fresh air, embracing the District’s standards for “strongly held community values, a history of educational support, focused on 21st Century student learning, sustainability, energy efficiency, longevity, flexibility and community use,” while cultivating the unique culture of the school and the island.

The learning courtyard incorporates a mix of intimate outdoor classrooms and larger informal gathering areas that support reflection, collaboration, and direct engagement with the natural environment. Play spaces are shaped around discovery-based experiences, emphasizing natural materials, organic forms, and sensory interaction. Areas previously maintained as lawn have been converted to native woodland habitat, integrating on-site stormwater strategies that support ecological function and landscape restoration.