The central atrium of wək̓ʷan̓əs tə syaqʷəm Elementary School, designed by architects HCMA for the Vancouver School Board.Andrew Latreille/Supplied
Most school buildings today are utilitarian bunkers of scuffed vinyl and concrete block. But imagine a school where sunlight streams onto walls of honeyed timber, classrooms are nestled into home-like clusters, and the whole building feels like an invitation to learn.
This is wək̓ʷan̓əs tə syaqʷəm Elementary School, designed by architects HCMA for the Vancouver School Board. The school, formerly known as Sir Matthew Begbie Elementary, got a new name – a Musqueam phrase that means “the sun rising over the horizon” – at the same time as the new building. (The Musqueam’s traditional language, on a journey of revitalization, has a set of orthographic symbols to write the sounds, rather than the Latin alphabet used in English.)
Opened this fall, the building challenges contemporary expectations of what public architecture can be.
Located in the northeast Vancouver area of Hastings-Sunrise, the 36,436 square-foot, $22.4-million school building presents a cheerful face to the neighbours; its grey siding is spiced with accents of lime green. At recess time on a late-fall day, students clambered up the side of a slope and careened back down the hillside.
Michael Elkan/Supplied
Panels of cross-laminated timber made from spruce, pine and fir cover much of the interior walls. HCMA’s team strove to leave the wood visible wherever possible.Andrew Latreille/Supplied
Indoors, the front office balanced the happy chaos of a typical elementary school with the warmth of a Nordic ski chalet. School principal Jim Rutley greeted me and some of the building’s architects. The scene was typical in many ways: non-descript office furniture and posters bearing life-affirming slogans on the walls.
But the walls themselves told a story. Panels of cross-laminated timber made from spruce, pine and fir, they gave off a warm glow and a scent of the forest. “The smell is usually the first thing that hits people,” Mr. Rutley said. Throughout the school, he said, “the wood gives students the sense that this is a special place.”
The building is a VSB pilot project with mass timber, a material that is now fashionable for good reasons. Not only handsome, it is also far lower in carbon than concrete or steel, and it lends itself to prefabrication. Here the builders created customized panels in a factory, brought them to the construction site, and fastened them together.
“The build came together very quickly and very quietly,” said Karen Marler, the HCMA partner who led the project team.
The north-south main hallway breaks open into a central atrium, where large windows allow lots of natural light to filter in.Andrew Latreille/Supplied
The building broke ground in 2020 as a replacement for an existing school, built in 1922 at the highest point on the site.
HCMA’s team, also including Susan Ockwell and Ian McLean, strove to leave the wood visible wherever possible. “The feel is very different than in other schools,” Ms. Marler explained. “There’s a strong case that this sort of environment – which feels connected to nature – is good for learning.”
Indeed, “biophilic” design is supported by research, but also by common sense. In the gym, massive glue-laminated beams of Douglas fir hold up the gabled roof. A light-coloured stain unifies the different varieties of wood into a uniform hue. Sunlight angles in through well-placed windows. And as a troop of younger students walks in, their chatter is softened by the custom-made acoustic panels. This is a luxe setting for gym class.
Grey siding with accents of lime green covers the exterior of the building. At recess time on a late-fall day, students played on the playground near the school's east entry.Andrew Latreille/Supplied
The timber is not the school’s only positive attribute. HCMA has a long history of designing hospitable public buildings, and its spatial savvy is apparent here. In most North American schools, classrooms branch off a central (often windowless) corridor. At wək̓ʷan̓əs tə syaqʷəm, the building is divided into smaller units that students can easily understand. One block contains the gym; the other three contain the library, multipurpose rooms and junior classrooms on the main floor.
Upper-grade classrooms occupy the second floor, and they too are thoughtfully arranged. Each set of four classrooms enjoys large windows and access to a neighbouring shared space – a sunlit commons where teachers can send groups to work or individual kids to find a moment of refuge.
Back downstairs, the centre of the plan is a true crossroads. The north-south main hallway breaks open into an atrium, including padded cubbies. As we passed by, a pupil was absorbed in one of Dav Pilkey’s Dog Man books. We could look out to the east to the schoolyard and the mountains in the distance.
The 36,436 square-foot, $22.4-million building, which broke ground in 2020, is a Vancouver School Board pilot project with mass timber.Andrew Latreille/Supplied
“From this one place, you can see the front door, the back door, the playground, and almost every part of the school,” says Ms. Marler. “It’s compact, but it feels expansive.”
Meanwhile, to the west, a fern garden rich with indigenous plants provides a teaching tool and an immediate dose of green.
The principles at stake here are clear enough: access to natural light and a range of spaces that allow both togetherness and solitude. These reflect today’s consensus in North America on how elementary schools ought to be designed. But in HCMA’s hands, this building does more than check boxes. It elevates the spirit.