Gardner Elementary School
Gardner, MA

American children have lost their connection to wildness and this one of the greatest tragedies of our time. Children today spend less time outdoors than any other generation, devoting only four to seven minutes to unstructured outdoor play per day while spending an average of seven and a half hours in front of electronic media.*

The concept for this public elementary school in central Massachusetts pushes for an immersive experience that focuses on reconnecting children back to the natural landscape. The new Gardner Elementary School was guided by the community’s vision for a “school in the woods” – inspiring students to engage with the meadows and woodlands throughout the school day through passive play and outdoor classrooms. An environmental ethic that embraces green infrastructure with rain gardens and minimal mowing is integrated into the school’s landscape. Trees that were felled for the construction of the school were reused across the site for play areas, gathering spaces and slope stabilization along hillsides. Multiple nature playgrounds evoke the signature of a forest blowdown, positioning re-purposed oak logs into an engaging landscape for sitting, climbing and balancing.

It was critical to the design team that the play features blend in with the surrounding woodland and that children could touch, feel, and smell the natural materials. The crawl logs in particular – allow students to explore a series of hollowed, massive tree trunks and experience the growth rings of a once living organism. The magical connection that children have when they experience unstructured play, with natural materials and their own imagination is at the heart of this project, which aims to be a new model for public schools across the American landscape.

*National Recreation and Park Association

Collaborators
Jones Whitsett Architects

Photography
Phoebe Jones