New Wakefield Design Offers Students Space to Think Concisely, Creatively

The openness and natural light in the new Wakefield High School is about more than looking good. Its design was purposeful in that Arlington Public Schools hopes to create a better academic environment, Principal Chris Willmore said.

The student body collectively represents about 90 countries; about 20 different languages are spoken. Arlington Public Schools students who follow the Spanish immersion program from Key Elementary School to Gunston Middle ultimately end up at Wakefield.

Some of the design elements of the new school are subtle — cafeteria tables will be round so that space can be used by students and teachers to work or congregate outside of breakfast and lunch times, for instance.

Others are obvious: The school at its heart has a large town hall for students and teachers to gather, comfortably, to talk through their ideas.

"What we really want to work on is giving the students the opportunity to converse, to talk to each other," Willmore said. "What I want to see is students not just able to color in a bubble on a test, but to communicate clearly what they know."

The town hall was created with that in mind, he said, as were the school's two courtyards.

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