Usually, when the Charleston County School District builds a new school on an old site, it tears down the original school before construction begins.
But just off Ashley River Road, at the conjoined campus housing Springfield Elementary and Montessori Community schools, Bill Lewis, the former Chief Operating Officer of Capital Programs for Charleston County School District, led a new approach.
First, the district scrapped the long, boring brick building Montessori Community called home. Then the district replaced it with a sleek, airy, light-filled facility that’s supposed to complement Montessori principles, while at the same time mimic the slowly turning waters of the Ashley River with its flowing 35,000-square-foot floor plan.
Opened last year, the new facility welcomes close to 250 kids daily at a construction cost of $13.7 million. But it was only the first phase of the new construction paradigm, according to Lewis, who retired last Friday.
Next will come the Commons, a $10 million building that will be home for the two schools’ shared media center, cafeteria, kitchen, and art and music rooms. The 20,000-square-foot Commons will open next month.
Constructed on space between the two schools, it will act as a transition point between them, programmatically and architecturally, combining both schools’ styles, according to Lewis’s replacement, Jeffrey Borowy.
The Commons will open in September and will become the best place to watch the construction of the new Springfield, which will go out for bid later that same month.
Located on the bus circle adjacent to the new building is a shared heating and cooling building that will keep both all three buildings comfy, while allowing for noise minimization and maintenance access without class disruption
The new, two-story, 72,000-square-foot Springfield will be constructed around the current school, allowing for classes to continue.
While a year behind when construction managers first scheduled it, the new school is slated to be completed sometime in the 2015 school year.
Lewis said that building the schools with kids present saved at least two years. Otherwise, both schools would have to wait for a swing-school site, like the old Oakland Elementary is providing while the new St. Andrews School of Math and Science is being built.
“Of course safety is the utmost importance when students are around,” said Lewis, who, with a smile, refused to divulge which beach he would head to first in retirement.

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