The project required McKissick Associates to design a program for a new Middle School facility to relieve overcrowding of other school buildings. After an extensive evaluation of multiple options, the decision was reached to construct the building on the site of the abandoned two-story 62,000 SF C.W. Rice Middle School, closed and decommissioned in 2011. The new middle school was designed to provide three learning communities each containing two teaching teams aligned along a shared core. The site design includes modular wall systems to permit the provision of two competition sports fields on this sloping 8.8 acre site while preserving space for future expansion of 300 pupils. The community's limited finances dictated that the new building be as cost effective and durable as possible. In meeting this goal, McKissick Associates incorporated a number of sustainable building strategies into the design of the 3-story building: earth berming; a structural system utilizing super insulated ICF (insulated concrete form) with plank construction; and rain gardens with underground storm water infiltration. The look and feel of the finished building harmonizes with the architecture and aesthetics of the town by incorporating exterior brick, engineered wood plank siding and a high slope metal roofing system. Operational costs are further minimized through the use of high performance heating and cooling systems with 100% energy recovery. Shikellamy Middle School represents the first Pennsylvania school to use 100% LED interior and exterior lighting systems.