Ehrman Crest Elementary and Middle School

Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania, USA

The 198,000-square-foot Ehrman Crest Elementary and Middle School in the Seneca Valley School District is a learning space that shows what can happen when learning spaces are designed like children’s museums. The result is an entirely new type of school that activates learning everywhere and gives students unparalleled agency to curate their educational journey. Ehrman Crest Elementary and Middle School features a variety of Kawneer’s architectural aluminum systems, including our 1600UT System™1 Curtain Wall, Trifab® VersaGlaze® 451 and 451T Framing Systems, GLASSvent® UT (Ultra Thermal) Windows and 500 Wide Stile Entrances.

Seneca Valley School District set out to explore if PK-12 environments could become more compelling, relevant, engaging, and successful if they emulated children’s museums. The hope was this emulation would create a more rewarding and empowering learning experience for students. There was clear recognition this would require a departure from traditional school buildings that are often designed in ways that dictate learning. 

Ehrman Crest redefines learning and makes it possible everywhere-in classrooms, yes, but also in the school’s corridors, outdoor spaces, group learning areas, along peg walls, via environmental graphics, and beyond. As children would experience in a museum, Ehrman Crest simultaneously supports multiple learning modalities (visual, auditory, and kinesthetic). The school is infused with both digital and analog media and experiences. The spaces emphasize and celebrate the process just as much as the product. 

TIME Magazine selected Seneca Valley’s Ehrman Crest Elementary and Middle School as one of its best inventions of 2022. Seneca Valley’s Ehrman Crest Elementary and Middle School has also received a prestigious 2023 AIA Education Facility Design Award. 

ARCHITECTS: CannonDesign, Pittsburgh, PA
GENERAL CONTRACTOR: Rycon Construction, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA
GLAZING CONTRACTOR: Specified Systems Inc, Canonsburg, PA

Photography: ^© Laura Peters, CannonDesign