Hawthorne Elementary School, Westerville City Schools

The Call: A School That Needed Its Own Identity

Hawthorne Elementary needed a complete renovation. The building had aged, the spaces no longer supported the educational model, and the school needed to be reimagined. Westerville’s leadership applied the same philosophy they had brought to every renovation in the district: the finished building should not just function better. It should make students excited about learning. For Hawthorne, that meant finding a concept that belonged to this school and this community, one that could go deeper than paint and graphics to become part of how students experience learning every day.

Choosing a Partner Who Makes Themes Educational, Not Decorative

Picking a theme is the easy part. Making it mean something educationally is the hard part. The district needed a partner who could take an outer space concept and translate it into an environment where the theme reinforces the learning approach, not just the visual identity. They also needed deep renovation experience, stakeholder engagement, and the design skill to create spaces that balance thematic ambition with the practical demands of an elementary school.

The Decisions That Made Outer Space More Than a Mural

The district chose outer space as Hawthorne’s theme because it naturally encourages the qualities they wanted students to bring to school every day: curiosity, exploration, and discovery. But the district insisted the theme go deeper than murals and graphics. Triad’s team wove the space concept into the environmental graphics, finish selections, and spatial design throughout the building. The theme is not applied to the school. It is embedded in it. Every hallway, every transition, every shared space reinforces the idea that Hawthorne is a place of exploration.

A theme that says “explore” needs a space where students can actually do it. The district chose to include a Project Based Learning Area: a dedicated, flexible environment outside the traditional classroom where students can work on hands-on, collaborative projects. The PBLA is the functional heart of the theme. It gives teachers a place to extend lessons beyond the classroom walls and gives students a space where the learning feels different because the environment supports a different kind of work. Triad’s team designed the PBLA to be adaptable, durable, and visually connected to the broader space theme.

Behind the thematic and educational decisions, the district managed the practical challenges of a complete renovation. Unforeseen conditions in the existing building required careful budget management. Construction was phased to keep the school operational. The district made prioritization decisions throughout, with Triad’s process ensuring that the thematic elements and the PBLA were protected even when surprises surfaced. The outer space theme and the Project Based Learning Area were never the first things on the cut list.

A School That Tells Students There Is Something Out There Worth Discovering

Today, Hawthorne Elementary has its own identity within the Westerville district. The outer space theme is not a coat of paint. It is an environment that tells students to be curious, to explore, and to discover. The Project Based Learning Area gives them a dedicated space to do exactly that, with hands-on, collaborative learning that extends beyond the traditional classroom. The project was delivered on budget, with the school operational throughout construction. The district’s leadership proved once again that a public school renovation does not have to choose between fixing what is broken and creating something that makes children excited to show up. Hawthorne’s students walk into a school every morning that tells them: there is something out there worth discovering.