The outdoors gains a front seat for middle school

Gerald G Huesken Middle School

A more than 1.5 mile long landscape buffer around the existing and new campus property lines allows for nature to be a major part of the Conestoga Valley community. Our work as master planners is evident on this campus, as we engineered site designs for the new middle school, all vehicular and pedestrian areas and circulation, outdoor classroom spaces, a hard-surface play area, seven new athletic fields (2 synthetic turf and 5 with natural grass), expanding the existing parking lot, and general site landscape design. 

This landscape design included a 1.6 mile long walking trail around the entire campus, as well as the natural buffer on the properties.

The outdoor classroom is perched beside one large stormwater basin in the southwest corner of the site, which handles the bulk of water from the new site’s impervious surfaces. This will allow students to observe wetland habitats and the creatures that call the basin home. An extensive inlet and piping system across 60 acres allows stormwaterto move to the basin and one smaller rain garden for water quality control.