The new Ehrman Crest Elementary/Middle School in Cranberry Township was designed and built from scratch over a two and a half year period. The facility had a cost of 63 million. Cary Shaffer/Butler Eagle

CRANBERRY TWP — Those planning to visit the new $63 million Ehrman Crest school in the Seneca Valley School District can throw out any previous notions of what a new elementary/middle school should look like, because every square inch of the innovative building has been designed with students, creativity, curiosity and learning in mind.

School district officials and architects from CanonDesign offered tours of the school Tuesday morning to members of the media as workers completed finishing touches.

The Y-shaped, 200,000-square-foot school was purposely built into the rolling topography of the 150-acre grounds off Ehrman Road so classes on the second floor can go outside without going downstairs and so student views are of nature.

Assistant Superintendent Dr. Sean Mccarty shows the flexibility of the new student desks at the Seneca Valley Ehrman Crest Elementary/Middle School in Cranberry Township. The desks can be pushed together in multiple configurations to enhance learning activities. Cary Shaffer/Butler Eagle

Also, mounds and small hills around the school can provide outdoor learning spaces for students, who will be in kindergarten through sixth grade.

“They really took advantage of the topography,” said Sean McCarty, assistant superintendent.

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