J.D. Smith Middle school is a design-bid-build project completed in June 2020. The design team worked in conjunction with City of North Las Vegas to replace the existing Hartke Park and to make the design of the park more formulated to the needs/wants of the surrounding community. This also afforded the opportunity to consolidate the park with the existing community center on the southwest corner of the site. Daylighting was a crucial component of the design for the library and all classrooms in the middle school. Second-story classrooms have clerestory windows for optimum daylighting. The theater classroom was designed to support daily academic functions as well as community plays and small events while the gymnasium and commons are both designed to allow for larger community gatherings such as community college extension courses, elections, community fairs, etc. There is also an outside auditorium which supports interaction between students and teachers as an extension of the learning environment. J.D. Smith Middle School is an iteration of a prototype design that Simpson Coulter | STUDIO developed for CCSD in 2008, which received recognition by the American Schools and University Educational Interiors Showcase (Outstanding Design Award, 2009) and SchoolDesigner.com (Green Piece Silver Award, 2008).