Cottonwood Elementary School

Cottonwood Elementary employs design elements and construction methods that significantly minimize not only costs but also time, which was critical for meeting the project’s fast-track schedule. This school was the prototype for Vail School District’s Sycamore Elementary/Middle School that completed construction in 2003. It employs tilt-up concrete construction and saved two months in the construction phase. The pod-style design’s inherent flexibility can minimize site-adapt time even when challenges exist. The design is extremely space efficient and provides significantly more usable learning area than typical school designs provide. The design is 93 percent efficient compared to 75-80 percent in most schools. This means that only 7 percent of the school’s square footage is used for such unassigned space as hallways and wall thicknesses.