Hubbard Woods School

Lakota assisted the school staff and Parent Teacher Organization steering committee with the development of a unique outdoor learning environment for grades K-4. The design focuses on a series of interconnected spaces, buildings, and features centered around a common theme of the Great Lakes region. The space encourages learning in an outdoor, interpretive, fluid environment that allows teaching of core curriculum subjects through abstract play and discovery in a Midwestern context. The plan also allows flexibility for teachers to develop additional learning devices, features, tools, and projects on an ongoing annual or seasonal basis. The outdoor learning environment features a series of custom-designed and built structures for science/environmental labs, a green roof, a sun dial, a sand “beach,” a sled hill “dune,” a math walk, a prairie garden, weather guages, and a play surface featuring a map of the Great Lakes.