hephzibah Innovation Center

Georgia School for Innovation and the Classics ~ Hephzibah, GA ~ 50 acres; 56,100 SF ~ Construction: $8,106,450

St John Principal Ed Setzler served as AE Project Director for site selection, campus master planning, programming, and full AE design for the Hephzibah Innovation Center. This 56,100 SF rural public charter school facility, which develops local capacity in sustainable agriculture and renewable energy, includes 40 core classrooms, cafeteria, administrative offices, media center, outdoor recreational fields, and sustainable landscaping features. The home of the Georgia School for Innovation and the Classics (GSIC), the use of natural building materials in this rural vernacular architectural design created the warmest possible setting for K-12 students to learn. Located in rural east Georgia, GSIC’s highly engaging experiential learning program includes educational-scale egg production on campus and child-friendly livestock on the elementary school playground. Focused on developing student capacity to support the nation’s agriculture industry through classical education and experiential learning, the facility was the first public school in Georgia in over 50 years to be constructed with nearly 100% structural wood, for which the US Green Building Council of Georgia awarded the 2015 Green Apple Award for excellence in sustainable educational facility design.