Hillcrest Junior High School is anything but junior when it comes to cutting-edge educational design. The Hillcrest replacement project carried on the legacy of NWL’s award-winning rebuild of the neighboring Murray High, and was no less cohesively planned or thoughtfully designed. NWL Architects worked with Murray School District over a five-year period to master plan the successful replacement of the existing junior high school. The result was a new 180,000-square-foot junior high school that fully accommodates academic, cultural, and athletic curriculum needs while amplifying the learning experience and increasing student and faculty well-being with ample natural daylight, low-glare artificial lighting, and thermal control and comfort. With student safety and site accessibility as top priority, the new school was reconfigured away from the traffic and noise of State Street through the acquisition of adjacent property and reconstruction of existing public roadways. Also critical in the school’s new design was an enhanced performing arts program fortified by community grants and partnerships, as well as seamless learning technology integration for students and faculty. In addition to an optimized learning experience for Murray’s young people, the school was built with high-performance energy standards, geothermal exchange heat pumps for heating and cooling, and low-maintenance, durable materials and sustainable practices, contributing to sustainability and environmental stewardship of the community. The award-winning school was constructed with load-bearing concrete masonry and steel roof joists and decking and is clad in beautiful lightweight metal panels on the upper level, which complement the building’s ample glass and textured earth-toned masonry. The project was completed below budget and ahead of schedule – no doubt a win for the district and an overall educational triumph for the Hillcrest Gladiators.