Cuningham Group Architecture and MOA Architecture have designed the new Pathways Innovation Center and Roosevelt High School located in Casper, Wyoming.

Opened in August 2016 in Casper, WY, Pathways is an individualized, career-focused academy, and Roosevelt is the district’s alternative high school featuring a wellness-based curriculum. The building’s design reflects teaching methods used at each school.

Natrona County School District’s Pathways Innovation Center and Roosevelt High School in Casper, Wyoming, were recently awarded the Project of Distinction by the Association for Learning Environments (A4LE). The high schools, which share one building, are designed to support student-driven learning and prepare the district’s high school students for success beyond graduation, whether it’s moving on to college or highly-skilled trade careers

At the center of Pathways Innovation Center is its “Fabrication Hall,” a 5,000-square-foot, two-story common space surrounded by labs equipped with cutting-edge technology. It encourages teams from all academies to collaborate on projects and is inspired by private-sector facilities, including Boeing Aerospace in Washington state, where engineering and design teams work under one roof.

This unique, sunlight-filled space is large enough to build homes and solar-powered airplanes. The hall has 16-feet-high, custom-fabricated glass bay doors that fully open to the outside. On the inside, the hall is viewed from glass-walled design spaces, including a “floating blue box” overlooking the hall for informal learning.

“The building’s design and educational programming came out a comprehensive community engagement process,” says Scott Krenner, senior associate and project architect at Cuningham Group. “We were asked us to design a facility that didn’t resemble a typical high school. It sets a different precedent for design and becomes a learning tool, hopefully inspiring students to be engaged, empowered and create their own pathways.”

Pathways is open to 11th and 12th graders from the district’s three high schools. It’s a state-of-the-art program connecting academics with real-world experiences in a wide range of fields, including engineering, arts and media, health science, agriculture and business. Four academies feature innovation labs that are designed to reflect professional work settings and feature industry-standard equipment.

Roosevelt High School’s curriculum is based on a “healthy mind, healthy body” model, which combines exercise with focused classroom instruction to improve student achievement. The school has a full-size gymnasium and large exercise facility. Building relationships between staff and students is also an integral piece of Roosevelt’s program, and students and teachers gather at the start of each day for breakfast and small group discussions in Roosevelt’s new amphitheater-style student commons.

Architect: Cuningham Group Architecture, MOA Architecture
Photographer: Astula, Inc.