Students, staff and community members gathered today to celebrate the grand opening of Stapleton’s newest ECE-8 school at Conservatory Green.

Located north of I-70 on the former Stapleton International Airport site, the 113,600-square-foot facility serves the expanding community of Stapleton’s Conservatory Green neighborhood. In order to meet district needs, the building is designed to operate as two autonomous schools, sharing only the gymnasium, cafeteria, and other support spaces. High Tech Elementary School will contain early childhood education through fifth grades and Denver School of Science and Technology (DSST): Conservatory Green houses sixth through eighth grades. Colors and textures from the natural and built world are used throughout the design to inspire students to be more aware of the patterns that surround them every day.

Key sustainable characteristics of the project include a high efficiency building envelope combined with triple-pane windows to minimize energy costs. The school promotes the 21^st Century learning model with collaborative and individual scaled learning areas, outdoor classroom and vegetable garden, and ties to the local community.  The west wall of the gym features a brick mural of the runways of the original airport, lending itself to the elementary school curriculum of learning about regional history.  The building was designed by RB+B Architects, Inc. and built by Roche Constructors.