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When the doors opened in March of 2021 on the new Paso Verde K-8 School outside Sacramento, students discovered that some of those doors were uniquely made for their school. The $60 million Paso Verde K-8 School is constructed on a 19-acre campus, with six buildings, approximately 38 teaching stations, and more than 90,000 square feet.
Two Hufcor walls are included in the design of the school. The first partition wall is located in the school’s gym. Covered in vinyl surface panels that coordinate with the school’s colors, the automatic movable wall is 80-feet wide by 18-feet high. The bi-parting electric operable wall features an STC rating of 51, and is opened and closed many times each day.
“The Hufcor panels in both spaces are incredibly easy to use,” says Jen Mellor, director of facilities and strategic planning with Natomas Unified School District. “This makes it easy to reduce a large space to a smaller space very quickly.”
The second is a partition markerboard operable wall located in the special needs classroom, encouraging students to “write on the walls” as part of their learning experience
“The whiteboard option on the partition was an excellent way to provide students and teachers with a decentralized classroom model and student-owned learning solutions,” says Aaron Buehring, director of educational environments, Lionakis. “We specified Hufcor for these walls for their durability, performance and overall price point.”
Enhancing Learning Spaces
In addition to the Hufcor operable walls, there are other unique elements of the learning environment at the school. Roll-up doors allow for easy outdoor access, while gardens on campus allow students to learn about agriculture, which ties into the site’s historical use.
“The addition of our top-quality operable partition walls in this project complements the overall design of the school,” says Jennifer Gho Rogers, senior director/A&D product sales for Hufcor. “Stationary walls are a thing of the past when it comes to school design. Whether they’re markerboard walls, operable glass walls or vertical walls, there are a multitude of options available to architects and designers for enhancing the learning environment for students.”
