Pardue Hall houses the Lower School at the Ashley Hall School in Charleston’s historic downtown. SMHa designed a 13,000 square foot addition to the existing 1960’s Pardue Hall, as well as a renovation for the existing building. The addition houses the administrative suite, new classrooms, teacher workrooms, and a new science lab and multi-purpose room. The scope of the renovation to the existing building included a new mechanical system, a new roof, and updated finishes for the existing classrooms.

The new addition is clad in stucco, which was intended to materially link it with the existing building and reinforce the character of other buildings on campus. Gabled roof forms and the accentuated base of the addition visually recall the architecture of the school’s historic McBee House. All Lower School classrooms open to exterior corridors around an open-air courtyard; the courtyard elevation of the new building was designed to match as closely as possible the existing building in order to provide a consistent backdrop for the school’s activities within the courtyard.