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| Restore, Renovate or Rebuild? |
| by Craig Berry and Christian E. Helgesen, RA |
As our culture embraces the concept of reuse or recycling in its many forms, it is only appropriate to focus on how some school districts have tapped the creativity of board members, architects and/or planners to restore, renovate or rebuild some their local structures to serve as educational spaces. Not only has this concept served them in the "green" sense by recycling the structures and adding eco-friendly components, but the projects also saved them some green.
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As our culture embraces the concept of reuse or recycling in its many forms, it is only appropriate to focus on how some school districts have tapped the creativity of board members, architects and/or planners to restore, renovate or rebuild some their local structures to serve as educational spaces. Not only has this concept served them in the “green” sense by recycling the structures and adding eco-friendly components, but the projects also saved them some green in the form of lower expenditures for the amount of square footage they now use to serve their students.
These types of stories are always interesting, but this is also a subject that proves the adage “a picture is worth 1,000 words.” So, we present a few examples of school facilities that have been recycled with a short description and several photos to give you a better sense of just how useful these building have become.
A Phoenix Rising
Miyamura High School
“A mythical bird that never dies, the phoenix flies far ahead to the front, always scanning the landscape and distant space. It represents our capacity for vision.” The Feng Shui Handbook.
Situated in Gallup, N.M., the new Miyamura High School is the culmination of one school district’s ability to complete their master plan in developing the city’s second high school through renovation and rebuilding of an older school. Its primary purpose would be to reduce the overcrowding at the present high school, and to provide a smaller student-based learning environment for the mixed minorities of Native Americans, Hispanics and Anglos. Miyamura, which is Japanese in origin, is named for the Congressional Medal of Honor recipient and local Gallup hero, Hiroshi H. Miyamura.
This is the story of one such school building that began life in 1962 as the former Gallup High School. It was converted to a junior high in 1996, and is now being resurrected as a new high school. This former school was a sprawling 209,000-square-foot, single-story complex of buildings, designed in an era of no security, no wireless technology, cheap energy and endless corridors. Coupled to this rambling school was a grand two-story gymnasium that had played host to championship school teams and even semi-pro basketball teams. The Gallup High School had a tradition that revolved around its sports as much as its academics.
Rehabilitation began in 2007, when the architectural and engineering team of Dekker/Perich/Sabatini reviewed the existing conditions in depth. The initial focus was to determine the facility’s compliance with New Mexico’s Public Schools adequacy standards for a high school. Concurrent with this evaluation was a structural study to determine why areas of the existing facility were literally breaking apart at the seams, with visible foundation separation, wall cracks and buckling of floors.
Two options were documented on how to convert the facility into a modern high school. The first would completely gut the existing interiors with a renovation to new materials, conditioning systems, structural underpinnings and the latest in communications and security. The second option explored the complete demolition of the oldest building portions, primarily the sprawling classroom wings and the reconsolidating of these spaces into a new smaller footprint two-story addition adjacent to the existing gymnasium. This second option also allowed a freeing up of space for the state’s mandated site amenities of student parking, bus and parent drop-off areas, and practice play fields. Salvaging the existing gymnasium would also benefit the outside interests of the community that had maintained continuous events on the wooden court for the past fifty years. The attraction of the gym’s play court was evident in the original crawlspace and wooden floor joist framing design that provided an excellent playing surface rivaling professional venues for its bounce of the basketball. The state adequacy standards that now dictated a school’s gymnasium capacity would also not cover the new construction of such a large arena with its unique construction.
In taking the steps of the second option to renovate and add new construction to a worn out facility, the Gallup-McKinley County School District fulfilled their vision of breathing new life into an obsolete school. By reusing the original site in lieu of starting over on virgin soil, the district saved millions of dollars for the taxpayers. The renovated site design provided ample new parking; safely separated car, bus and pedestrian traffic; provided a new private academic courtyard for student learning; and accommodated a new artificial turf football field. By combining a new classroom wing constructed on a stable foundation system with a jewel of an existing gymnasium, Miyamura High is truly a phoenix rising that has a new lease on life for the next 50 years.
Christian E. Helgesen, RA, is the project manager for the Miyamura High School Design Team and is an architect and general contractor with Dekker/Perich/Sabatini of Albuquerque, N.M.
An Ambitious Plan
Riverside Brookfield High School
In March of 2006, the communities served by Riverside Brookfield High School, outside of Chicago, Ill., voted to fund a $65-million public referendum to fulfill an ambitious plan to renovate and expand the school. Although the 90-year-old building had undergone many major additions and renovations throughout the decades, it had not had any significant improvements since 1978. The school district administration selected Wight & Company to update the historic school with a four-year multi-phase project that included the demolition of about 70,000 square feet of building areas, the renovation of the remaining 295,000 square feet and the addition of 110,000 new square feet.
In summer of 2007, construction began on the first phase of work. A courtyard was in-filled with a new music department for band rehearsal and choir. The results were acoustically perfect rooms for each function that provided the first glimpse at the future look of the new high school.
The following school year, the existing outdated swimming pool and locker rooms were removed. After complete demolition, the space was rebuilt into a new pool and locker rooms enclosed in a 14,000-square-foot addition. The new six-lane, extended-length pool has a movable bulkhead that enables the school to hold competition events in swimming, diving or water polo simultaneously with recreational swimming or athletic warm up.
During these first two construction phases, Wight & Company continued working with school administrators, faculty and the community to plan, design and document the work for the final phase. Working in partnership with McHugh Construction, the team was able to fast-track the design and construction process, which allowed the school to minimize total time for construction and maximize time for selecting and budgeting the majority of the work.
“The involvement of the many project stakeholders during the design process resulted in a modern educational facility enveloped in the beautiful historic exterior that everyone identifies with this community,” says Kevin Havens, senior vice president and design director at Wight & Company.
The final project phase featured the development of a new primary entrance that maintained the historic character of the school. This was part of a 40,000-square-foot, two-story addition that also included atrium space, classrooms and administration offices. The cafeteria was expanded, the science department was enlarged and the library was gutted and rebuilt. The project also included new computer lab classrooms, renovation of a 300-seat theater and a 700-seat auditorium, and an updated and reconfigured art department. The athletic department benefited from a 20,000-square-foot fieldhouse addition that doubled the amount of enclosed athletic space available; rebuilt basement athletic spaces for wrestling, weightlifting and PE locker rooms; new synthetic turf and a new track for the athletic field.
Today, the Riverside Brookfield student body attends classes in a modern, expanded facility designed to fulfill the referendum goals. The new school has a total of 405,000 square feet and can accommodate more than 1,800 students. The building renovations, additions and system upgrades have had a positive effect on the general learning environment and also have made it greener. Energy efficient mechanical systems, white roofs and permeable pavers have reduced costs and raised environmental awareness.
“The completion of the high school renovation marks the end of a four year design and construction project that was made possible through the generous support of our community,” says interim superintendent, Dr. David Bonnette. “The beneficiaries of the project are not just the fortunate students who will enjoy the new and progressive learning environment, but also the community that has expressed its appreciation for the preservation and sensitive expansion of this landmark building.”
Thinking Outside the Box
McMullan Elementary School
Thinking outside the institutional grey box is what drives the creative team at Radius Design Works of Murfreesboro, Tenn. Intrigued by other Houston-area work, David Bienvenu, Nutrition Services Director for Channelview (Texas) I.S.D., tracked down and hired Radius Design Works in 2005. “We were initially hired to design the cafeteria at the new Harvey Brown elementary campus,” says creative director Craig Berry. “Following the success of that project, we were asked to transform six outdated cafeterias into environments that would encourage participation, imagination and social interaction.”
“Feeding children is more than just serving food at a reasonable price. Today’s youth expect an exciting environment that they can call their own, somewhere they are at ease to enjoy their meals,” says David Bienvenu. “It’s all about packaging and presentation — an exciting student atmosphere to enjoy a meal and appealing food to encourage healthy eating. Together this has been a winning combination for Channelview.”
Radius Design Works has been working on the projects in pairs, with the most recent projects being completed August 2009. McMullan elementary school was a fairly plain single-line serving space when the project was started. A minimal update to old serving line equipment and flooring was completed prior to the implementation of the graphic renovation. This nonsensical, Willy Wonka-inspired imaginarium operates as “Yazoom Factory” a production house of food and fun. “We just wanted to create a kid friendly atmosphere of fun and color, it didn’t necessarily have to make much sense,” says Berry. The design developed into an unusual consortium of bold colors, metal air conditioning ducts, faux steel beams, porthole windows and bubbling liquids. Three new windows were transformed into implied storage tanks for mysterious kitchen ingredients zigzagging through the elaborate path of supply pipes. Two existing entry and exit doors were refurbished with porthole windows and new metallic laminate.
The $35K budget covered design fees, wall paint, fabrication/installation of environment graphics and merchandising. Working as a design/build company, Radius Design Works is able to produce maximum effect with minimal budget. The project was produced over a total of eight weeks, with three weeks for design, five weeks for fabrication and three days for installation. “An integral part of our service is final merchandising set-up,” says Berry. “We purchase and stage the serving line with visual props and decorative elements to give the cafeteria one more level of interest.”
“The end result was a smash success — 88 percent of all students in attendance now eat breakfast and 90 percent eat lunch in our cafeteria everyday,” reports Bienvenu. “By far, the money we spent on our remodel with radius Design Works is the best money I have ever spent for child nutrition.”
Craig Berry is creative director for Radius Design Works. He can be reached at cberry@radiusdesignworks.com.
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| Source: SP&M, May 2010 |
Copyright 2012, Peter Li, Inc. All rights reserved. This article is protected by United States copyright and other intellectual property laws and may not be reproduced, rewritten, distributed, redisseminated, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast, directly or indirectly, in any medium without the prior written permission of Peter Li, Inc. |
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