Armstrong School District
West Hills Primary School

The existing West Hills Primary School building was constructed with no dividing walls between classrooms. This once-popular “open concept” model created acoustical issues and reduced the amount of usable wall space for instruction. Armstrong School District (the District) wished to renovate the facility to enclose the classrooms without relocating students during construction. IKM coordinated with the District and a demountable wall system manufacturer to develop an innovative plan that would accomplish the renovation and installation of the wall system in a single summer.

Demountable partitions consist of a pre-engineered wall system that is entirely customizable, flexible, and manufactured offsite. After interior demolition and the installation of new carpet and ceiling, the pre-manufactured walls were efficiently installed in the two classroom wings and administrative offices. The modularity of this solution enables any changes desired by the school in the future – removing walls, resizing classrooms, changing materials – to be completed in hours. West Hills Primary School is the first school of its size in Pennsylvania to implement this system.

The scope of the project also included upgrades to the large group instruction room, new lights in the gymnasium, finish upgrades to the entrance lobby, and new restrooms. This project not only allowed the classrooms to be enclosed and acoustically separated, but also integrated flexibility and transformed the look and feel of the school in record time.