New Fairfield Consolidated Early Learning Academy

JCJ Architecture was engaged by New Fairfield Public Schools to design an expansion to the Meeting House Hill School (MHHS) that would accommodate the Town’s PreK-2 Consolidated Early Learning Academy (CELA).

This project created a 43,000 square foot expansion to the existing elementary school building. This addition provides connected access to 18 new classrooms, a gross motor skills room, and support spaces for CELA’s current Pre-K, Kindergarten and 1st Grade students, staff and administration.

The project included repurposing of the existing bus entrance to create a new Maker Space, introducing the district’s youngest learners to hands-on exploration; the expansion of the existing Gymnasium entrance provides an enhanced arrival and dismissal space for the expanded student population.

Designed in accordance with Connecticut High Performance Building Standards, the learning environment is bright and cheerful featuring agile classrooms, flexible breakout areas with appropriate sight lines and durable materials that will stand up to years of use. The project also included both new and replacement sitework and exterior features. The major sitework consisted of all new underground utility work, pavement and drives, as well as the construction of new play areas.