Small learning communities keep classrooms close-knit, while a dedicated early learning building serves the school’s youngest students. | Photo Credit: MCN Build
- The Arthur A. Richards PreK-8 School opened Aug. 7 on St. Croix after a multiyear design and construction effort.
- The 139,000-square-foot campus is designed for 735 students and replaces facilities damaged by hurricanes Irma and Maria.
- The school includes 32 classrooms, three labs and maker spaces, shaded outdoor areas, a gymnasium that can serve as a storm shelter, onsite water storage and solar power.
- The project is the first new school building constructed in the U.S. Virgin Islands in nearly three decades.
By Lindsey Coulter
CROIX, U.S. Virgin Islands — The new Arthur A. Richards PreK-8 School has opened on St. Croix, marking a major milestone in the U.S. Virgin Islands’ effort to replace and modernize public school facilities damaged by hurricanes Irma and Maria.The project is part of a multi-year, $264 million redevelopment effort.
“This is more than the opening of a new school,” V.I. Education Commissioner Dionne Wells-Hedrington said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony on Aug. 7, according to the St. Thomas Source. “It is an opening of a new chapter in education in the Virgin Islands. For more than 30 years, we have not built a new public facility of this magnitude. Today, we are not simply catching up — we are setting the bar.”
The 139,000-square-foot campus, built on the site of the former Evelyn M. Williams Elementary School, is designed to serve 735 students. The project brought together MCN Build as builder, Perkins Eastman as architect of record and DLR Group as design criteria architect, with local firm CariBuild participating on the design-build team.
Arthur A. Richards PreK-8 was designed around how students learn, feel safe, and grow. Small learning communities keep classrooms close-knit, while a dedicated early learning building serves the school’s youngest students. Shaded outdoor spaces, a central gathering area, and a gymnasium that doubles as a storm shelter support both everyday school life and community events. Thirty-two classrooms, three labs and maker spaces, and one-to-one laptops give students hands-on learning opportunities, while onsite water storage and solar power help the school reopen quickly after a major storm.
“From the beginning, our process was about listening — to the community, to the environment, to what students in St. Croix actually need from their school,” said design leader Mary Rankin, AIA, Principal at Perkins Eastman, in a statement. “To have gone from groundbreaking to ribbon-cutting in just two and a half years, without losing sight of that, is something the entire team should be proud of. This building was designed for these students, and it will serve them, and the community, for generations.”
Turning that student-centered design into a finished school took the work of hundreds of local tradesmen and women. At its peak, the project employed 270 tradesmen and women at once, with roughly 400 members of the total workforce drawn directly from the USVI labor pool.
“Every child deserves an equal opportunity to learn and grow. This team gave St. Croix a school that makes that possible,” said Rudy Seikaly, Chief Executive Officer of Perkins Eastman, in a statement.
Resilience was also a central part of the project. Onsite water storage and solar power are intended to support continued operations and help the school reopen more quickly after a major storm. The project team described the campus as a model for high-performance educational design suited to Caribbean conditions.
The opening gives St. Croix a new PreK-8 campus as the territory advances a broader school reconstruction program. The Arthur A. Richards project is the first newly constructed school building in the territory in nearly three decades and is now positioned to serve students, families and community activities for years to come.
For DLR Group Senior Principal and K-12 Education Design Leader Pamela Loeffelman, FAIA, the opening carries particular meaning.
“The grand opening for Arthur A. Richards PreK-8 School marks a significant milestone in the reimagination of what education can look like in the U.S. Virgin Islands,” Loeffelman said in a statement. “It serves as the catalyst for the continued transformation we’ll see across the Islands for the next 10 years.”