Mountaintop Montessori

Mountaintop Montessori has been a staple of Montessori education in Charlottesville for more than 40 years. When they decided to increase their middle school class size from 22 to 40 students, brwarchitects crafted an addition aligned with the natural surroundings, the school’s needs, and the principles of Montessori education.

Nestled atop a beautifully wooded site on the Pantops mountain, the project began with the land itself. Our team spent considerable time on the site and shifted the new addition’s orientation to relate more appropriately to its natural environment. A 20-degree shift to the northwest provided a building axis better aligned to the environmental conditions, sustainability concepts and for taking advantage of its extraordinary site views.

At the heart of the project was a near-doubling of classroom space, designed with ultimate flexibility in mind. Rooms of varied shapes and sizes support both group collaboration and individual exploration, while a calm, acoustically controlled environment keeps focus and well-being at the forefront. Remarkably, the expanded classroom also created the opportunity for a new Assembly Hall — a discovery that emerged from close dialogue with the school's director and board.