St. James Academy Middle School Renovation and Addition

St. James Academy (SJA), founded in 1821, serves students from preschool to 8th grade across its 89-acre campus in Monkton, MD. JMT Architecture provided architectural and interior design services for the SJA Middle School renovation and addition, rebranding the middle school wing as a 21st-century learning space. The work included a full renovation of the existing middle school wing, with a two-story classroom addition, a new egress stair, and new HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and lighting systems. The classroom addition included a new art classroom on the first floor with a storage and kiln room, and a new makerspace classroom on the second floor, designed for flexibility and collaboration. The makerspace classroom also features large windows for natural lighting and an exposed wood-truss ceiling.

The middle school renovation included all new finishes, casework, and furniture for the lobby, lobby stairs, corridors, nine classrooms, a new academic center, and a new student commons space. The student commons space combines two existing classrooms into one large, flexible gathering space that offers a variety of seating options. A new backlit, perforated metal panel ceiling feature runs down the center of the space, with exposed structure and suspended wood-look metal-plank ceiling clouds on either side. A new operable glass panel wall can be closed to separate the student commons from the corridor if desired.

The lobby also features a wood-look metal-plank ceiling that runs along one wall, and the team installed new display cases, lockers, and tackboards in the lobby and corridors. The lobby is the first in a series of nodes identifying key spaces within the public circulation, including classroom entrances, locker areas, and collaborative learning spaces. Each node is connected to the others by a standard design theme that runs through the corridors. These improvements will generate excitement among the academy’s users and patrons and will reflect a true rebranding of the middle school for the future. Every design upgrade is an opportunity to reinforce SJA’s position as a leading provider of contemporary education in Maryland.

This project had a short turnaround time–a “summer blitz project.” The team had 10 weeks to renovate the entire middle school over the summer while students were away. With focused communication and coordination, the team completed the renovation in time for the new school year.