Transforming Rural Schools: Adaptive Reuse for Sustained Community and Sustainability

In many small towns, there are little to no places for gathering and community to exist except for an often community central location of their school, even though the schools become a community hub they are not immune to the effects of the outside world, and with a population decline trend, they face the threat of becoming closed from low enrollment and inefficient use. There could, however, potentially be a different solution other than consolidation, partial adaptive reuse. By analyzing input from those who would be affected by the school closure, analyzing previous closure and their effect on the smaller town, as well as the potential cost and sustainable implications, the findings could conclude if partial consolidation and adding community use onto the school could allow the schools to maintain their historical significance as the center of the community.