Opportunity

Community STE[A]M Academy began with an ambitious vision: to create a school without walls. Transforming a former YMCA into a dynamic K–12 learning environment required more than adaptive reuse. It called for a space where design could actively support teaching, collaboration, and hands-on learning. From the earliest planning sessions, DAC partnered with school leadership to align the building's design with the school's educational mission while creating spaces that could evolve alongside students, educators, and the surrounding community.

Approach

Beginning in 2020, Principal Dan Mayer worked closely with the school board to develop a curriculum-informed design that satisfied Battelle's rigorous STEM designation criteria. Our team collaborated with decision-makers throughout planning and design, helping secure more than $750,000 in financial support, coordinating adaptable furniture and movable wall systems to support kinesthetic and collaborative learning, and leading onsite tours to help families envision the school's future. Today, DAC continues to support teachers, students, and administrators with ongoing facility operations guidance. The curriculum-informed design principles established through this partnership remain active at the school's additional campus, extending the project's impact beyond the original building.

Impact

The result is a flexible, STEM-accredited K–12 learning environment where the building itself supports the educational experience. Through adaptive reuse, curriculum-informed planning, and close collaboration with school leadership, Community STE[A]M Academy achieved full K–12 STEM/STEAM accreditation while creating spaces that encourage collaboration, movement, and hands-on discovery. The project demonstrates how thoughtful educational design can strengthen a school's mission, engage its community, and continue supporting students and educators.