BSC Group’s site plan for the Windham Environmental Magnet School cleared an important hurdle last month, receiving approval from the Town of Windham’s Planning and Zoning Commission.
An interesting component of BSC’s work on the school project is the integration of site design with the school’s environmentally-focused curriculum. Key elements of the plan include outdoor classrooms and learning habitats, including a butterfly garden, sensory garden, nursery, and vegetable garden. Additional features will include playgrounds, athletic fields, walking trails, and an amphitheater. These spaces will be used by the school to help promote environmental education for the anticipated 600 students in grades pre-K through eight.
BSC’s role on the project has included landscape architecture, civil engineering, traffic engineering, and land surveying. Special expertise that BSC has applied to the planning and design of the school includes low impact design, use of native species, and innovative stormwater management. Notably, when constructed, the stormwater run-off from the project will actually be reduced from pre-construction conditions.