A beautifully designed school can make students feel that they belong to a school. A well-designed indoor space can boost concentration among students. When designed with good ventilation, good light, and breathable materials, classrooms can provide students and teachers with a comfortable learning environment.
This article will take you around the world to see beautiful and unique architecture of high schools, from modern state-of-the-art designs to castles, and a high school made up of one big room with no walls or classrooms! Lets take a look at these 10 breath-taking high school in the world.
- Institut Le Rosey – Switzerland
Commonly referred to as Le Rosey or simply Rosey, it is a private boarding school in Rolle, Switzerland. It was founded in 1880 and is among the oldest boarding schools in Switzerland and one of the most prestigious and expensive schools in the world, for which it is known as the “School of Kings”
All their students are boarders whose academic year is shared between two campuses in Switzerland: The Main Campus, set on a magnificent manorial estate and the school’s Winter Campus, a beautiful village of chalets in the charming ski resort of Gstaad. The school’s aim is to develop all Roseans’ talents through academic, sporting and artistic programmes.
The school’s campus has 28 hectares (69 acres) of landscaped grounds. The school’s sailing center, the “Fleur d’Eau”, is situated along 100 meters of shoreline on Lake Geneva. Le Rosey is reportedly the only boarding school in the world to change campuses seasonally. In spring and autumn, classes are held at the Château du Rosey campus in the village of Rolle in the canton of Vaud, located between Geneva and Lausanne in southwestern Switzerland. For the winter months of January through March, the entire student body moves to a group of chalets in the ski resort town of Gstaad in the canton of Berne.
2. Hilton College – Hilton, South Africa
Hilton College, more commonly referred to as Hilton, is a South African private boarding school for boys located near the town of Hilton. Hilton College was founded in 1872 and is situated on a 1,762 ha (4,350 acre) estate that includes a 550 ha (1,400 acre) wildlife reserve that borders the Umgeni River.
The school campus, which has been described as one of the most beautiful in the world, is home to all school buildings including the Crookes Block (main academic building), the Centenary Centre (which incorporates the theatre), the William Campbell Building, Memorial Hall and the Chapel. Immediately beyond the campus is the school farm which includes wattle plantations and natural grazing areas and is used by boys for running and cycling.
The lower portion of the estate is the Hilton College Nature Reserve. Hilton boys have access to the reserve and make use of the grounds on Sundays for swimming, tubing, mountain biking, fishing, bird watching and exploring. In addition, academic departments make use of the reserve as part of the curriculum (e.g., Art, Biology, Geography).
The architectural style of their chapel is fundamentally Cape Dutch, with prominent gables found on most of the buildings across the grounds. Unlike traditional Cape Dutch, the roofs are sheet metal or slate in lieu of thatch, sash windows make way for casement type, and shutters do not feature. The Centenary Centre introduced Southern Colonial Architecture into the mix. The building was designed in the, Georgian inspired, Southern Colonial Style.
There are a number of buildings, such as the Indoor Sports Centre, Crews Fitness Centre and the Hart Davis Scoreboard that have Georgian cues.
3. Taft School – Watertown, Connecticut
Founded in 1890 by Horace Dutton Taft, brother of President William Howard Taft, the Taft School is as rich in history as it is in academic excellence.
The school has a singular mission: to educate the whole student. At its core, their mission means that education at Taft is personal, moral, and ethical, as well as academic. It means that they value high scholarship and intellectual endeavour along with a belief that character, above all else, determines success in life.
Though buildings have been added to the 226-acre campus over the past 125 years, the school has chosen to stay consistent in its design, keeping with the historic New England elegance of its oldest buildings.
In its design, the new residence hall reflects the high quality of the Taft School’s architectural heritage. The composition was unified by a common architectural vocabulary and use of materials designed to celebrate the institution as a whole.
During major building campaigns in the early twentieth century, the School was designed in an almost seamless fashion by Bertram G. Goodhue and James Gamble Rogers, forming in effect one single building. At Taft, between 1912 and 1930, these two architects built a series of rambling brick buildings that recall the Collegiate Gothic tradition of Oxford and Cambridge and connect gracefully to form an intimate campus.
The gabled wings that Goodhue designed around a tower are elegant in appearance, but it is the way in which they connect that sets Taft’s campus apart from other, more sprawling boarding schools. Taft is a school built around corridors, where nooks in hallways act almost as common rooms. Gamble Rogers also added several more wings to the school’s complex with a good deal of elegance.
Robert A.M. Stern ARC ’65, dean of the Yale School of Architecture, also designed a dormitory for the school that was completed in 2002 and is connected by a bridge and an aesthetic with Gamble Rogers’ final building here.
4. Orestad College – Copenhagen, Denmark
Ørestad High School (Danish: Ørestad Gymnasium) is a public gymnasium in the Ørestad district of Copenhagen, Denmark opened from 2005 until 2007. It is noted for its innovative architecture, favouring open studying environments instead of traditional classrooms, and for its media-oriented profile focusing on media, communications, and culture. All teaching materials are digital. On May 10, 2007, the school moved to a purpose-built building, designed by 3XN.
The building is one giant transparent room where everybody can see what everybody is doing. The school has no blackboards which challenges the traditional teaching methods, the teacher therefore acts as a coach and a consultant. It is one of the most unique schools in the world, having no classrooms but instead with ‘group areas’ The whole school is like one large flexible classroom with no walls. Three round areas of the school are dedicated to breaks and free times in between lessons. These are breakout areas where the students can relax, and prepare their homework. Their educational system is truly an open learning environment where ICT is used extensively in teaching.
Communication, interaction and synergy are key issues for the design of this public high school. The project displays a visionary interpretation of openness and flexibility regarding team sizes, varying from the individual to groups and assemblies, and reflects international ambitions to achieve a more dynamic and life-like study environment. The intention of the building is to promote the students’ abilities to take responsibility for their own learning and the flexibility of the architecture truly allows the students to shape their own academic and social education.
With a dramatic architecture that encourages visitor experience, the school has found itself a major architectural attraction in the city of Copenhagen. The school and students have used the various cultural facilities in the school such as the multi-functional auditorium, the multi-media rooms, and the television studio to take part in major international events. The spiral staircase is planned as the central meeting place. It is designed to be much wider than mere transportation needs request; it becomes a space in itself.
The colorful shutters on the perimeter of the Ørestad College not only allow for a flexible adjustment between daylight and sun-generated heat, they also dominate the exterior expression as well as the interior environment. The school is a model for energy efficiency, with a number of features such as natural ventilation, an exterior façade system that prevents direct sunlight from entering the building and connection to the City’s district heating system.
The colorful louvers on Ørestad College in Copenhagen, Denmark look a bit like the keys on a piano, and they add texture and cheer to the exterior of the building. Instead of classrooms, this upper secondary institution has four boomerang-shaped decks that serve as “study zones.” This approach makes the learning spaces both adaptable and open. The structure was completed in 2007; and since moving in to its new building, the school has become very popular with applicants – perhaps proving that architecture does indeed have an impact on students’ willingness to learn.
5. Mount Si – Washington, USA
Mount Si High School is a high school located in the Snoqualmie Valley in Snoqualmie, Washington and is a part of the Snoqualmie Valley School District. According to the Seattle Times, Mount Si High School was founded as early as 1944, during World War II.
Mount Si High School completed the building of a new campus, started in 2015 and opening on September 7, 2019. The new campus has seven buildings, some three stories, with greenhouses on top and a new gym having two levels.
Mount Si’s campus is elevated in every sense of the word: educationally, experientially, and literally. The campus nests in a valley defined by two mountains and the Snoqualmie River, which creates a floodway. Responding to these natural conditions, the school is elevated above flood levels, not only safeguarding the facility but also maximizing views of the mountain range.
By weaving in social and informal learning spaces at a variety of scales, the design honours individual and group activities equally. The building was designed by the lead architect Matt Rumbaugh.
6. Fitzroy High School – Melbourne, Australia
Fitzroy High School in Melbourne, Australia was first opened in 1915, closed in 1992 and was re-opened in 2004. It is an exuberant landmark for the surrounding community. The site was significantly renovated, involving the construction of a new science and technology wing, a library and a food technology division.
Architectural firm McBride Charles Ryan chose the eye-catching brickwork after seeing similar patterns on nearby houses. Sections of the interior can be partitioned off with high curtains, while the flat, accessible roof looks perfect for outdoor learning. Special attention has also been paid to ventilation and natural lighting.
And the school contains science labs, a drama studio, a kitchen garden and a sporting complex. The new building was completed in 2009, and in 2010 it won a Dulux Colour Award as well as the annual Australian Institute of Architecture Victorian Chapter Award. The school is formed from a collage of buildings dating back almost 100 years, exhibiting a highly diverse range of styles. The ground floor studio has been designed to open up to a generous foyer, providing a space for community gatherings. The key studio spaces are for 40-60 students and follow a ‘team teaching’ approach where spaces are configured allowing a flexibility and variety of use.
7. Baltimore City College, Baltimore, Maryland (USA)
Despite its name, this is actually a high school, affectionately nicknamed “the Castle on the Hill.” Baltimore City College, known colloquially as City, City College, and B.C.C., is a college preparatory school with a liberal arts focus and selective admissions criteria located in Baltimore, Maryland.
It took its first students in 1839, and the current Gothic Revival building was constructed later and opened in 1875. The school is situated on a 38 acres (0.15 km2) hill-top campus. The main campus building, a designated National Historic Landmark, is constructed of granite and limestone in a Collegiate Gothic architectural style and features a 200-foot-tall Gothic tower.
The campus consists of two buildings: the Gothic-style edifice known locally as the “Castle on the Hill” which sits in the center of the campus, and the power plant building east of the castle. Both buildings were designed by the architecture firm of Buckler and Fenhagen. The castle features an iconic 150-foot-tall gothic central tower that is visible from many locations throughout Baltimore. In 2017, Architectural Digest named the school the most beautiful public high school in the state of Maryland.
City College represents one of the most richly detailed façades to have been designed by E. Francis Baldwin and Josias H. Pennington. It is a red brick Romanesque Revival structure with Beaux Arts Classicism detailing, designed in 1893-1894. It is six stories in height and is marked by square towers flanking a central façade. Both façades and the towers have three-story arches surrounding multiple window openings. The raised base story and entry story are rusticated and separated by composite terra cotta banding from the two-story building shaft.
The structure embodies distinctive architectural characteristics made up of elaborate arches, a highly ornamented cornice, and a classical entrance portico. The roofs are hipped gable with pyramidal roofs on the towers. City College is a significant contribution to the 19th century urban architectural fabric of Baltimore.
8. Issaquah High School – Washington, USA
Issaquah High School prepares students to fly when they leave the nest by inspiring students to reach their full potential and become lifelong learners who positively impact the world and community in which they live. The Seattle architectural firm of Young, Richardson and Carleton designed the Issaquah High School.
As one of three comprehensive high schools in the Issaquah School District, Issaquah High School (IHS) takes great pride in continuing a 100+ year tradition of excellence in academic and co-curricular programs. IHS serves over 2400 students in 9th through 12th grade. The school is a green campus, has over 60 clubs and student groups, a strong music and theatre program, excellent vocational and technical education opportunities and a long history of athletic excellence.
Issaquah High School makes the relationship between building and place a priority. A courtyard in the centre of the school opens to the surrounding mountain valley, while the “V”-shaped interior space surrounding this courtyard supports a transparent and open public commons. This commons is a shared space for all students and staff. It fosters a sense of community within the school and connects the interior experience back to the Cascade foothills.
Classrooms and teaching support spaces are contained in three independent three-story structures, rigorously organized to strengthen interdepartmental collaboration. They are joined by a circulation network that allows for several different paths, opening onto views of landscaped rain gardens or connecting back to the commons. This organization responds to the desired educational approach while reinforcing the benefits of informal collegial interaction.
9. Pacific Ridge High School – San Diego, California
Pacific Ridge School, referred to as Pacific Ridge or PRS, is an independent co-educational college preparatory school for students in grades 6–12. Pacific Ridge High School is located in Carlsbad in North San Diego County, California. Its new high school building was designed in collaboration with architectural practice Carrier Johnson + Culture and was opened in 2010.
The 14.5-acre campus consists of a middle school, high school, arts and technology center, innovation center & library, athletic center and artificial turf field. Both the high school building and the ground-breaking athletic center meet LEED Gold standards, and the site boasts renewable energy technology, abundant natural lighting and reduced water usage. Pacific Ridge High is known for its rigorous scholarship and seminar-style learning methods. Pacific Ridge School’s 35,265-square-foot athletic facility is one of the largest among San Diego private schools.
Facilities expansion project at Pacific Ridge School was designed with Andre Gomez, principal at Andre Architecture, and gkkworks as the Architect-of-Record. Facilities include a New Visual and Performing Arts Building and Middle School and Administration Building. Interior spaces were designed to embody the spontaneous nature of the school. Large expanses of glass provide an abundance of natural daylight and opportunities to showcase student activity. Operable walls provide user flexibility and embrace the mild local climate. The new community centre and outdoor amphitheatre serve as a central campus feature and the heart of student life.
10. President William McKinley High School, Honolulu, Hawai
President William McKinley High School, more commonly referred to as McKinley High School, is a comprehensive public high school in the Honolulu District of the Hawaii State. President William McKinley High School is one of the oldest secondary schools in the state and several of its buildings have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The architect most involved in the early layout of the King Street campus and design of its Spanish Colonial Revival buildings was Louis E. Davis. The use of terra cotta embellishment on the buildings at McKinley represents the most extensive use of this material on Spanish Colonial revival style buildings in the Islands.
Also notable are the building’s wide, wrap-around open lanais that simultaneously provide beautiful views, natural ventilation, and protection from weather. The attention to detail was impressive, colourful breadfruit, taro, and gourds are unique handcrafted embellishments that reflect Hawaiian cultural elements in the school’s ornamentation.
Inside, the restored windows provide classrooms with ample natural lighting and ventilation. The original chalkboards were retained and adapted to fit current needs; with a coat of specialized paint, they now function as whiteboards.
Spanish Revival architecture isn’t limited to the Lower 48. Originally founded as Fort Street English Day School, in 1865, President William McKinley High School moved to its current campus in the 1920s.