RDG Planning & Design completed The Franklin School Early Learning Center as a light-filled space for young children in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Located in Spartanburg, South Carolina’s Northside, The Franklin School is an early learning facility offering high-quality education to children age birth to fifth grade. Reflective of the community’s focus on ensuring access to exceptional education, RDG’s design creates expansive, light-filled educational spaces where children can learn through discovery. Layout for the 28,000-SF building is designed to mimic building blocks, with spaces dedicated to formal classroom and programmatic functions, and informal gathering interspersed throughout. A multicolored glass-clad form rises above the building, defining the school as a place for young learners and a beacon of education in the community. Echoing the program’s continued growth, an exterior canopy stretches to the playgrounds, extending outwards to the community and building a relationship between interior and exterior learning environments to encourage learning beyond classroom walls. The building’s unique design offers inviting and safe spaces for children to learn through discovery, promoting optimal brain and social development through creative, hands-on activities and play.

Design: RDG Planning & Design
Design Team: Joe Lang, Benjamin Kroll, Bruce Neidermyer, Ed Buglewicz, Eric Winkler
Photography: Thomas Grady