Nation Ford High School
Fort Mill, South Carolina
Completed in 2007

The legacy of Fort Mill lies in the history of the agricultural and manufacturing industry. The typology of the textile mill as a defining architectural presence and identity of the community is significant.

Our proposition was to reflect the historical context of the textile mill in the massing and organization of the exterior composition and fenestration. Within that context, we proposed to integrate the “promise of the future”, by giving the facility an image of flexibility and technology… a contrast of the dynamic and stable. The mill imagery and typology is “locked” in time, it will never change. It represents the “industrial” concept and parallels the concepts of education of its day. The dynamic of today’s pedagogy, represented by light and motion is captured in the accent of the circulation cores and their points of convergence.