Duval County Public Schools, Mandarin Middle School, Jacksonville, Florida

HADP Architecture was the lead design architect in a design–build method of project delivery that resulted in a pioneering use of tilt-up concrete construction technology.

East Arlington and Mandarin Middle Schools were budgeted at $40 million and were bid together at a cost of $6 million under budget. These two middle schools are larger than many U.S. high schools. The work included developing the educational specifications. The Design-Build process was delivered in a total time frame of 20 months. The design for both schools is prototypical, with 230,000 s.f. housed on two floors, and an additional 850 s.f. single-story Exceptional Student Education Wing at the East Arlington Middle School. Each school is designed to have a 1,900 student capacity. Each school has one football, one baseball, two softball, and one multipurpose field, as well as a track, four tennis, three handball and four basketball courts. The first floor of both schools contain an acoustically designed 500 seat auditorium with an adjacent music and band department, gymnasium, cafeteria, pre-vocational wing and the administrative offices. The designed layout of the second floor of these schools is organized into three “Academic Houses” surrounding one multi-purpose media center which affords a more efficient use of each facility. Graphics and the use of natural light were used to contribute to vibrant, cheery learning facilities.