There was a time when Metrolina Regional Scholars' Academy had no hallway space, no gym and no computer lab - with laptops on a traveling cart as the substitute.

But on a recent morning at this charter school for highly gifted students, second-graders studying ancient Egypt met in one of the two "gathering areas" to build a pyramid out of gold-painted milk jugs.

Children skipped in a wide circle on the indoor basketball court.

And the laptop cart stayed parked - inside the school's brand-new media lab.

For the first time since opening in 2000, Scholars' Academy is now in its own building. Students and staff started classes last month in the retrofitted 52,500-square-foot office building off Interstate 77 and Tyvola Road.

The move was a decade in the making for the Scholars' Academy, one of the top-scoring public schools in North Carolina. As a charter school, it receives government funding, but no separate funds to buy a building. In 2009, the school community of about 200 families raised $1.1 million as a down payment toward its $5 million building campaign.

Over the years, the K-8 school has grown from 60 to 305 students. It first leased a former preschool building in the University City area, and then moved to the British American School of Charlotte in the Ballantyne area, where both academic programs shared space for five years.

The new space fits the school's mission, staff and parents say, and also doubles as a teaching tool. Even the exposed ductwork, left in place in a money-saving move, will be used as part of the school's "green" program, whereby students study energy efficiency and how the heating and air system works, parent Toni Hemming said.

Other touches: There's an art studio, music room, Smart Board technology in every classroom and environmental considerations around campus, including parking-lot slots designated for hybrid or low-emission vehicles. "Now there's a facility that really reflects Scholars' Academy in its occupants," said Hemming.

Student Ana Carolina Scott, 13, attended school at all three Scholars' Academy sites. It wasn't until last week, she said, that she used microscopes in science class. There was never space for them before; now, the school has a lab.

But some things haven't changed from the early years.

"Even though it was a small space, everyone was very welcoming," Scott said - and that extends to the new building. "I look forward to every day of school."