CRA Architects has been privileged to have the opportunity to breath new life into one of Harrisburg’s oldest schools. Closed 12 years ago, this historic school received a 2nd life as the 1st step in a strategic plan to reorganize the school district’s facilities & return as a community school to its neighborhood in North Harrisburg, PA.
Funded by national stimulus grants, Steele, originally built 1914 will receive a complete renovation and additions. CRA Architects is honored to have been selected to lead design over the past year+. The design includes reorganizing the interior of the school for 21st century collaborative education with distinct “Grade Houses”, scaling the school down to a residential scale for children from Pre-school to 5th grade including small group instruction, open collaborative program space, and dedicated support educational program spaces.
The exterior of the building received a historic restoration following National Department of Interior’s standards for restoration including historic window replacement, masonry and stone restoration based upon historic photo research.
To support the dedicated support educational program spaces a new 3 story addition will occur at the rear of the building, infilling a courtyard and removing non historic past additions to limit impact on the historic facades. The addition will include a new cafeteria, library, kitchen, art and music classrooms and allow for the renovation of the school’s gym creating a 2 story open core of program spaces quickly accessed from each of the Grade Houses.
The building incorporates safety measures based upon national standards of Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED), includes an improved thermal envelope and energy efficient mechanical and electrical system replacement, improving the life cycle costs for the City of Harrisburg for years to come.
68,798 SF
size
$18.3M
budget
2024
completion
Harrisburg, PA
