DESCRIPTION
The City of Norwalk hired Antinozzi Associates in late 2018 to conduct concept design studies for Jefferson Elementary School and Cranbury Elementary School. Both studies delivered designs specific to each location with sufficient cost data to provide a detailed cost estimate to serve as the basis for a future State grant application. Our firm was then hired to complete the renovation of Jefferson Elementary School in 2019 for this $33 million project.

FEATURES
The school is built into a hillside with the main entrance at the east side of the lower level along Van Buren Avenue, and the upper level opening onto playfields and portable classrooms at the west side of the property. This project added to and fully renovated the building, replaced all mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, as well as the roof and window systems, reconfigured the interior, and provided Code-compliant accessibility throughout. The existing portable classrooms were removed.

A new Gymnasium wing with a new entrance was added at the upper level, removing this function from the existing multi-purpose space to alleviate scheduling and crowding issues. The design separated bus traffic from parent drop-off with a new bus loop serving the site’s upper level. The new bus loop is gated when not in use, and parent drop-off and public arrival to the school during the day is restricted to the main building entrance at the lower level. The adjacent south parking lot accommodates visitors. The parking lot located on the parcel of land north of Grandview Avenue was retained for faculty and staff parking.