Architect Visits Bentonville School He Helped Design

STAFF PHOTO BEN GOFF • @NWABenGoff Bevan Brawner, project architect with Hight-Jackson Associates, speaks Friday to Leah Cheek’s second-graders at Willowbrook Elementary School in Bentonville. Brawner was part of the team that designed the school, which opened in 2012, and talked to the class about how architects design spaces to serve the needs of the users.
STAFF PHOTO BEN GOFF • @NWABenGoff Bevan Brawner, project architect with Hight-Jackson Associates, speaks Friday to Leah Cheek’s second-graders at Willowbrook Elementary School in Bentonville. Brawner was part of the team that designed the school, which opened in 2012, and talked to the class about how architects design spaces to serve the needs of the users.

BENTONVILLE -- Some Willowbrook Elementary School students got a glimpse at the life of an architect and what went into building the school they attend.

The visit by Bevan Brawner, a project manager for Hight-Jackson Associates, to Leah Cheek's second-graders on Friday tied into conversations about work space design Cheek had with her students during the first week of the new school year.

At A Glance

Schools

Willowbrook Elementary School and Bright Field Middle School opened in August 2012. They were built with money from a millage increase voters approved in 2010.

Source: Staff Report

Brawner showed the second-graders a slideshow of floor plans and drawings architects compiled to build Willowbrook and the adjoining Bright Field Middle School.

The plan involved two separate schools connected by an area in the middle that both schools could use. The design came to be known as the "bowtie plan" because of the building's shape, Brawner said.

"We also wanted to get windows and daylight into as many spaces as possible," Brawner told students.

One student asked how long it took to design the building.

"I worked on it with about five other people, and it took about eight months," Brawner said.

Cheek took that opportunity to emphasize the school was designed in a collaborative fashion.

"Did he just say he worked on it by himself?" she asked students.

One of Brawner's slides showed a preliminary drawing of a Willowbrook classroom with cabinets on one wall. Cindy Dewey, Willowbrook's principal, informed students those cabinets ultimately were removed from the plans after designers consulted with her and other school administrators. That's because they wanted to give teachers more space to hang posters and educational material, she said.

"These decisions were made along the way as we were designing this," Dewey said.

Brawner also talked about how the school -- built in an area that used to be mostly farmland -- was made to incorporate the look of a silo. That's how Willowbrook's front entrance ended up with its round, tower-like structure, he said.

Cheek asked Brawner whether he uses math as part of his job.

"Every day," Brawner said. Reading and writing also are important skills for the job, he added.

Several students said they enjoyed Brawner's presentation.

"It's kind of like a book," said Austin Horton, 7, one of Cheek's students. "The more you get into it, the more interesting it is."

Jonah Knapp, 7, said he felt architecture was something he might like to do when he grows up.

"I got real interested in it real quick," Jonah said.

Cheek welcomed her students to the new school year this week by engaging them in a discussion of classroom setup and where they felt most comfortable learning. It turned out most preferred not to sit at desks all day.

Cheek's classroom still has desks, but it also has a couch and soft chairs for students to sit in while they read a book. Some just sit on the floor.

Bringing Brawner into the classroom was a way to connect what students are learning to the real world, Cheek said.

"I wanted to pull in someone from our community and make the connection that learning is not just in this room," she said.

Willowbrook will continue inviting professionals into the school to help make education relevant to students, Dewey said.

"You could see the connections the students were making," Dewey said about Brawner's visit. "They now know a little more just in terms of vocabulary. And (architecture) may just be something they want to do."

NW News on 08/23/2014

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