• Fairview Elementary

Fairview, having been founded in 1974, is Cincinnati's second oldest magnet school. Excepting only the period before the First World War, Fairview was the first public school program in the U.S. to offer intensive instruction in German to primary pupils. The school has consistently ranked among the top in the city scholastically. In 1986 Fairview was one of twenty-three Ohio public schools to be recommended for National Department of Education recognition.

The architectural program for the 650 student, Pre-K through 6th grade school, called for 89,000 square feet. The six acre site is located in Clifton, at the intersection of Clifton Avenue and McApin Street. A stone carriage house, part of a grand residence once on the site, was to be retained and renovated (by others) as the Clifton Community Arts Centre.

The building was given an L shape,which, when combined with the carriage house, creates a "U". Enclosed in the "U" is a courtyard which forms the heart of the school. The carriage house will be available for students to pursue performance arts..

Classrooms are grouped in a three story wing near the center of the site. On each floor classrooms are placed at the perimeter. Extended Learning Areas and rooms for German language instruction fill the center. Pre-K, K and First Grade fill the first floor, older grades the second and third. The commons areas, a gymnasium, cafeteria, art, music and the media center are placed at the north side of the site. Administration is adjacent to the main entry.

The exterior material is precast. Some of the precast is clad in ivory-colored brick that matches the color of the 1906 School across McAlpin; the remainder is exposed aggregate that matches the color of the stone in the carriage house. All of the precast is designed to accord with a strict proportioning system.

On the site resides a protected species of shrub called the Yew tree (taxus capitata cuspidata). Late in the design process it was discovered that the cost of moving the tree, one of the largest of its kind in the country, was prohibitively expensive. The cafeteria was redesigned to fit around the tree, which will become a focal point for the entrance.

Human Nature (landscape architects) devised a site design strategy which uses fluid, organic shapes to contrast the natural setting with the orthogonal geometry of the buildings.

Find out more about the programs offered by the school at their website: http://fairview.cps-k12.org.