The Benchmark School is a private elementary school in Media, Pennsylvania. It was created by SHoP architects and completed in August 2018. This metal-clad Innovation Lab is set at an angle between a stucco-faced performing-arts building and another wing. Students see into the lab through the glass entry. The 2,200-square-foot glass-and-metal-clad two-story structure is tucked between two existing buildings.
The upper-level houses three spaces for middle-school pupils: two open labs separated by a sliding-glass partition for maximum flexibility, and a small triangular space (for messier projects) wedged between them behind a glazed wall. The extensive wooded grounds can be seen through the large windows on both levels of the upper-level labs. A classroom for the youngest children is on the lower level. With butcher-block lab-style tables and counters along the walls for computers, the rooms include sinks, adjustable track lighting, power cord outlets that drop down from the ceiling, and whiteboard wall surfaces.