Goodman Elementary Opens

Students in Goodman, Mo will start the year off in a brand new building after an April 2017 tornado destroyed the only school in Goodman, Missouri.

The residents of Goodman came together to rebuild their community as a collective group of family, friends, and neighbors. Similarly, the design enables students to learn in a school that feels like a community: classrooms are approached through an open and collaborative space, rather than a typical corridor. Visibility within the classrooms is not only to the exterior but also to the shared spaces in the core of the building. The ceilings of these core collaborative spaces are taller, a different material, and have altered proportions from those of a typical classroom. All of these changes will remind students that even though they may be in a classroom with just 20 others students, there is a much larger space just outside the door: one shared by all students; one that can function as a special classroom, one that can inspire students to really embrace their community and their fellow students.