Square Footage
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19,000 sq’ |
Program/Scope
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Years of increased student population at Sierra Vista Junior High School have resulted in a campus congested with temporary portable buildings, crowding much of the once open space. The campus, initially designed as a high school, was subsequently divided to accommodate a junior high school. The architects were given the task of creating 19,000 sf of permanent buildings to replace the patchwork of temporary buildings, and to give the junior high school a distinct identity from the rest of the campus. The buildings include a two-level 16-unit classroom building, an administration building, and a restroom building that fit strategically into the campus, creating a new courtyard in between the new and existing buildings. |
Budget / Construction Cost
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$2,900,000 |
Unusual Characteristics
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A series of precast concrete elliptical pipes are placed vertically at varied heights in order to spatially define the new courtyard. The prefabricated concrete pipe, like the new buildings, are manufactured off site, trucked to the site and then "instantly" craned into place. The "site elements" complete the courtyard – an outdoor space to have lunch, student assemblies and create a range of unprogrammed situations. This strategic indeterminacy allows for the possibility of unexpected and creative engagements. Students actively participate in a spatial learning process as events, spaces and situations are constructed or completed though use and appropriation. |
Special Challenges
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The accelerated project schedule was a brief nine months from programming to finished building. Construction of the entire project was to be completed during summer break so it would not interrupt school schedules. As a result, the design team chose to use prefabricated modular buildings, building components and site elements that could be assembled to meet the time sensitive needs as well as programmatic aspirations of the project. |
Solution
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The District standards require all new glazing to have security screens, the architects designed a perforated screen system that is integral to the façade of the buildings. While the south side of the building features a perforated screen system that folds itself into a bench in front of classrooms facing the courtyard, the north side is punctuated by an exaggerated perforated screen system that protrudes to add depth and shadow to the otherwise bland 205-feet-long surface of building. An exterior lighting system will illuminate the screen system at night. Lastly, the calculated placement of a large canopy, inserted between the modular buildings, is the main entry and simultaneously provides the junior high school a distinct identify of its own. |
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