The FAIR School Crystal Community Schoolyard was born from a vision the students of FAIR School Crystal had for their sprawling campus: bring learning to the outdoors, open views to Gaulke Pond, introduce more native plantings and sustainable green stormwater infrastructure to their campus, and invite the greater community to enjoy their beautiful spaces.

Through an in-depth co-design process with the students, the Trust for Public Land selected Mend Collaborative to refine the students’ ideas into a constructable campus design. The resulting design builds from the school’s mascot, a fire-breathing flying dragon, to bring an outdoor classroom, connecting pathways, and outdoor reading nook to the backyard of the school. The outdoor classroom features tiered seating that curves toward a teaching platform, surrounded by a native planting-filled stormwater pond and shade trees.

Outside of the media center, a pathway twists and turns like a dragon’s tail to lead students to an outdoor reading nook and the future dragon sculpture garden.

As a parallel process to this design project, Mend also designed two permanent signs for the schoolyard: an overall map of the campus, and signage about the pollinator gardens and rain garden. This signage is colorful, educational, and approachable to the students at FAIR School Crystal, and invites the greater community to enjoy their campus.