◆ Architecture
■ Master Planning
● Interior Design
■ Master Planning
● Interior Design
Palmer High School Transformation
Colorado Springs,
Colorado
Palmer High School, originally named Colorado Springs High School, is the oldest high school in Colorado Springs. Palmer High School has stood as a landmark and beacon of academic excellence for over 140 years. District 11 sought to transform the aging, disconnected campus into a world-class high school.
High Schools
Project Details
Size: 220,000 sf
Cost: $85M (est.)
Design Details
- Designed by RTA and Perkins Eastman
- Extensive community engagement process with more than 40,000 informational touchpoints and engaged with 400+ staff and students
- Future-ready, collaborative learning environments
- Transformation to create a safe, unified campus
The transformative renovation preserves the school’s historic identity while fostering curiosity, global engagement, and a collegiate ambiance. The reorganized campus creates a unified campus that improves safety and security for students, removing the need for them to traverse several blocks to get between classes. Enhanced arts, wellness, and athletic facilities support holistic student development, connecting students with the urban environment through partnerships and public-facing spaces.
RTA, Perkins Eastman, and NES led an extensive community engagement process, involving over 2,255 participants. Utilizing online and in-person engagement, including staff user groups, board presentations, public meetings, a steering committee, user groups and focus groups, numerous community presentations, and a robust engagement process with students. This inclusive approach ensured the design honors Palmer’s history while creating state-of-the-art spaces rooted in the International Baccalaureate (IB) philosophy.