FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Architecture professor Michael Hughes and 12 School of Architecture students are breaking ground this week on a new outdoor learning classroom for Washington Elementary School. Forget about golden shovels — the architecture students are digging foundations with a mini-excavator and skid steer while the school children look on.

Hughes has led several award-winning design/build projects and believes hands-on experience is critical for student architects.

“We want to take our students beyond the drafting board and learn how to work with engineers, contractors and the public as well,” he said.

The university students are eager to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty.

“At school it’s all theoretical, book-oriented,” said Chris Sheppard, a student from Chicago. “This project gives us a chance to get out there and work.”

“It also helps us learn how things go together — what can and can’t be done,” added Jason Boze of Dover, Ark. “This helps us be better designers.”

Over the past five years, Washington School’s parent-teacher organization has raised $30,000 toward an outdoor classroom that will help the school use its three-acre campus — the smallest in the district — more fully.

The facility includes several outdoor rooms, such as this reading pit.

Once Hughes signed on to direct the project, plans took shape quickly. The students recorded the topography of the site, observed climate conditions and interviewed teachers at the school. In just three weeks they generated 12 schemes, winnowing them down to one design that brings together the best aspects of several proposals.

The project will be sited on the northwest side, close to the school, “so that kids can’t get lost behind it — intentionally or otherwise!” Hughes said with a grin. The facility will open on to Maple Street, creating a formal entrance to the playground and inviting after-hours and weekend use by the neighborhood.

Current plans call for an airy pavilion that will house a class of 28 to 30 students. An outdoor reading pit with low walls and bleachers for quiet lounging extends north of the pavilion and is terminated by a planter box, wall and signage. A stage on the southern end may be used for plays, graduation ceremonies and fundraising events. A planter and bench beside the basketball court complete the approximately 2,000-square-foot design.

“We’re creating a series of outdoor rooms with relatively small built space,” Hughes said.

A ramp and other inclusive design features will ensure that the outdoor classroom welcomes all users.

In addition to housing outdoor classes, the facility is meant to function as a three-dimensional textbook that actively engages children in learning. The architecture students have designed a system that will catch rainwater on the roof and funnel it to an underground cistern. The school children will be able to hand pump water to irrigate plant beds. If funding is available, the architecture students also plan to install rooftop solar panels and a meter so that the children may track usage of the solar-powered battery through rain, sun and snow.

“I think it’s a great project,” said Ashley Garcia, principal of Washington Elementary School. “It’s perfect for our space and creates so many opportunities for different kinds of activities. It will be a great addition not only for the school, but the neighborhood.”

Hughes expects that the project will be completed this academic year. Certain aspects of the project have been left unresolved so that a new group of students in the spring semester may contribute to the design.

At a recent meeting the architecture students presented site studies, sketches and a large model to more than 30 parents, teachers and neighbors packed into a small classroom.

“We focused on areas that were underutilized and tried to activate those quiet places,” said Ben Trantham, a student from Seattle. He hopes that the softly glowing light wall “will act as a beacon to attract positive nighttime use of the playground.”

Neighbors who attended the meeting expressed concerns about controlling nighttime lighting and thickening the concrete wall facing Maple to protect children in case of an automobile accident — all duly noted by Hughes and the students.

Nancy Allen, the Ward 2 representative on the Fayetteville City Council and an alumna of Washington Elementary, liked the way the pavilion tied in to the existing structure.

“This project will further entrench Washington School into the school district, and hopefully keep it here,” she said.

“I certainly hope so — I have a future Washington School student here,” Hughes said, gesturing towards his pregnant wife and design partner, Selma Catovic-Hughes, as meeting attendees laughed and applauded.

The project has received generous support from a number of individuals and companies in the construction industry, including Arkansas Rebar, Arkhola Sand & Gravel, Benchmark Construction, Brundige Bone Concrete Pumping, the Darragh Co., Darrell Doyle, Enco Materials Inc., Foundation Specialties, Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse of Rogers, Nabholz Construction Corp., Ozark Energy Services, PB2 Architecture and Engineering, the Rogers Group, RSC Rental, Stitt Energy Systems Inc., David Tate, and Tune Concrete.

Hughes is seeking donations of lumber, steel and concrete and free or reduced rental of equipment such as backhoes. The Washington School PTO also plans to sell inscribed bricks to raise more funds for the project; for more information contact Jim Halsell at jhalsell@meridianmtg.com.