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John F. Kennedy Middle School

Enfield, CT

JFK Middle School

The original John F. Kennedy Middle School building was constructed in 1969 with a substantial Media Center addition in 1999. This project is a Renovate-to-New status with the State of Connecticut and will encompass a full “like-new” renovation of the existing building (excluding the 1999 addition) and all of its MEP systems. There will be an 18,610 sf Auditorium Addition on the northeast portion of the building that will create a new Public Entry to the community use spaces – bringing the end-result for the overall building to approximately 198,116 sf.

JCJ Architecture has a long, successful history with the Town of Enfield and, for this project, helped repackage a previously failed referendum by reducing the overall cost and maximizing the State’s contribution. In November of 2018, the revised $84 million referendum resoundingly passed and JCJ was subsequently retained to complete the design and documentation for the renovate-to-new project.

JFK Middle School
JFK Middle School

The existing school currently has 1,215 students that will remain in place during the proposed renovation. JCJ Architecture has proposed a complex phasing plan that maximizes the creative re-use of much of the existing space. The existing Pool area will be used as temporary classroom swing space and then ultimately become the new Cafeteria and Kitchen. The existing Cafeteria becomes the new Main Entry, Main Administrative Offices and self-contained Special Education Classrooms. The existing Auditorium is transformed into new Tech Ed spaces – including Robotics Labs, Material Testing Labs and Design & Modeling Labs. The three two-story classroom wings will be completely renovated and house 4 teams of students (2 per floor, 1 grade per wing). Each of these areas will be renovated, phase by phase, with great consideration given to the safety of the students that will be occupying the building and with a goal of minimizing the negative impact on the learning environment throughout the scheduled construction.