Location: Bellevue, Washington, USA.

Architect: NAC Architecture.

The new Tillicum Middle School is intended as a Marketplace of Learning with stimulating, engaging environments that put learning on display and give students and teachers numerous ways to interact. Core classrooms, the library, and programs for science, CTE, and art are organized around a series of shared informal indoor and outdoor spaces. The Oval Courtyard is a portal to the outdoors wrapped in glass, and the school will be in the top 1% in the nation for energy-efficient schools. Biophilic design principles employed throughout the school increase student awareness of the interactions between architecture and nature and develop students’ personal connection to sustainable choices.