The Wilmington Academy of Arts & Sciences in North Carolina, USA, is a private school for academically gifted students in grades four through eight.
Renowned for its challenging curriculum, WAAS focuses on fostering individual growth and development. The academy operates on the belief that students excel when their unique educational needs are met. With a strong emphasis on STEM, WAAS prepares students for high school and future success in science-based fields.
At WAAS, classrooms are centred around exciting hands-on experiments, engineering projects, and creative problem-solving—all at a pace that matches students’ intellectual curiosity.
Recognising the learning environment as a key component of their STEM programme, the school decided to transform their science lab into a space that “matches their ambition, maximises student achievement, and provides students as young as fourth grade with the experience of working in a real lab environment.”
The lab’s design centres around a “thinking environment” with modern furniture that offers an immersive, hands-on experience. The innovative SpaceStation by S+B provides a spacious work area where students can collaborate on group projects. The design ensures unobstructed visibility and facilitates easy interaction between students and the teacher, who is positioned within ten feet of each student at the workstation.
The bespoke SpaceSaver storage wall offers practical storage solutions for a well-organised learning space. Additionally, the perimeter features include base and wall cabinets and an ADA-compliant station.
The new lab is a vibrant space that encourages creativity, designed to inspire students and support educators in delivering an ambitious STEM curriculum.