Montessori Master Plan

Following her work on the new Montessori Elementary at Highland Park while at HK Architects, Petra took on a full-scale campus master plan for The Montessori School, an established institution serving infants through 5th grade also in Chattanooga’s Highland Park neighborhood.

With the school’s recent acquisition of an adjacent parcel nearly doubling its footprint, the master plan proposed a new community building, sports and play fields, gardens, hiking trails, a chicken coop, and on-site teacher parking. The community building was envisioned to include an auditorium, library, dance studio, specialty classrooms for cooking and music, and flexible classrooms for parent programming.

Additionally, the plan addressed the replacement of the existing preschool and toddler building, which suffered from water intrusion and poor construction. Drawing from the principles of the Montessori Method, the proposed design centered around a courtyard layout where each classroom opened onto a shared play space, complemented by covered outdoor classrooms usable year-round.

To ground the design in the needs of the school, Petra toured other Montessori campuses across Tennessee and, with HK Architects principal Heidi Hefferlin, interviewed The Montessori School’s teachers and parents. These insights were compiled into a Master Plan Document that guided the final proposal. She also collaborated with a local contractor to prepare a cost estimate to support the school’s fundraising efforts.

Overall, the master plan was crafted to embody Montessori values—flexible environments that support independence and exploration—while ensuring long-term safety, accessibility, and space for the school’s growing student body.