Bancroft Elementary School is the complete modernization of a 1920’s-era historic school building and construction of a new multi-story addition that improves facilities and accommodates the growing student population. Working with the design team, Lee and Associates, Inc. (LAI) utilized the site’s unique and challenging topography to create a sequence of outdoor rooms and educational opportunities that reinforce the school’s mission.


Rooted in Bancroft’s unique character, location and community, the new campus site design fully integrates the historic building and new addition through a series of play and learning courtyards specific to age-group play and programming. Several garden areas have been created both at the periphery and within the site to support the outdoor education curriculum. The learning courtyard, the largest garden space, provides a soft separation between outdoor classroom areas as a walkway running through layered planting attracts butterflies, birds, and insects. To the west, the central cafeteria opens up to a plaza and new turf field that anchor the open space in the northwest corner of the site. A kitchen garden and bioretention plantings provide an engaging edge to the turf field. Stormwater is captured and treated through large expanses of green roof, several small bioretention planters in the play spaces, and permeable pavement. After initial treatment, stormwater is then dispersed to a larger bioretention planting area on the north edge of the site. These sustainable elements helped the project achieve its LEED Gold certification.