Lighting the Way

The new East Fairhaven Elementary School replaces an overcrowded, inadequate building that had occupied the same site. The location of the new building and the demolition of the existing building were planned to minimize site disruption and preserve historic stone walls along the perimeter.

Students in this new PK-5 school enjoy a bright, cozy library, full-sized cafeteria and gymnasium, as well as specialty classrooms that were missing in the previous facility. These include a music classroom with instrument storage, computer classroom, dedicated art classroom, and a project room designed to accommodate science and other messy, hands-on exploration.

The energy-efficient new building is oriented to take advantage of daylighting through skylights and classroom windows, and the artificial lighting is designed to automatically dim when there is sufficient daylight. In addition, the project holds the distinction of being the most economically constructed new school in the Commonwealth since 2004.