Constructing a 21st-century elementary school while honoring a beloved historic legacy is no small task, but the Bethel-Hanberry Elementary School blends the new with the old in a striking building ready to carry students through the next century.

With a design aimed at creating a learning environment that fosters critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication, the school features flexible classrooms and built-in sensory learning opportunities with colors, shapes and patterns that engage students in creative and scientific thinking.

Students enter the building in an inviting, two-story space infused with daylight and featuring a colorful, biophilic composition and views to nature, a natural wood ceiling, patterned glass and hexagonal acoustic wall panels along an easy-to-navigate main corridor. Those panels invoke nature and have been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council to ensure that the wood was harvested from responsibly managed forests.

Photo courtesy Firewater Photography

But among all that new, the existing gym will be restored and surrounded by a park to preserve a connection to the school’s history, constructed with locally sourced brick and block, metal panel and glass curtain wall.

Harper General Contractors, the construction manager at-risk, was able to complete the $39.1-million, 141,000-sq-ft school—and demolition of the old school—on budget and ahead of schedule in less than two years.

The school will house up to 750 students from kindergarten through 5th grade and features biophilic design strategies that nurture not only a low-stress, positive emotional environment but also support a state-of-the-art learning facility.

Electric wall air dryers will cut down on the school’s paper product use, and bottle filling stations were installed for students.

Working on an active school campus meant difficult site logistics. The Harper team coordinated specific construction activity around the county’s academic calendar, requiring extensive preplanning and attention to detail.

Photo courtesy Firewater Photography

Building information modeling was also crucial to Harper’s team, which “built the project twice” with modeling to limit design issues in the construction stage and better coordinate with stakeholders.

One of those stakeholders, Will Anderson, Richland School District Two chief operating officer, says in a letter that Harper General Contractors kept in close communication with the district, including the project management team that navigated the active school site where classes continued through construction. That includes adjusting car rider loop details multiple times and delaying construction during school hours. At the school’s topping out, each student signed the last beam to be raised. Car lines and students weren’t the only issues to work around. At the onset of construction in October 2022, prices for steel rose dramatically in the wake of disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Working with the team and owner, Harper modified the design to reduce the amount of steel required and to create a better product for the school system. The team bought out roofing materials early, storing them off site to guarantee the materials would be ready when needed.