Context
Garretson Elementary sits within a single and two-story residential neighborhood. The school is nearly centered between East Grand Blvd. to the north, Fullerton Ave. to the east, Magnolia Ave. to the south and South Main St. to the west. The topography of the neighborhood has a slight downward slope, starting from the south and running down to the north along Garretson Ave. While the slope was shallow, it was enough elevation to cause the school to look downward onto residences to the north.
Program/Scope
Replace the undersized and unassuming Administration Building and the Staff Lounge/Workroom which had been housed in a dilapidated modular building.
Replace the kitchen, also housed in an older modular building, and add a Multi-purpose Room.
Replace the Library with a new state-of-the-art building, complete with a Storytelling Room, Reading Area, and Stacks area. Inside, provide two separate computer labs with capacities for 50 students each.
Provide two additional kindergarten classrooms with a Workroom and four Toilet rooms, two with inside access, two with outside access.
Reconfigure/ enlarge the main parking lot to include 30' wide drop-off and fire lanes, new lighting and control measures to minimize pedestrian/vehicular intermingling.
Incorporate drought-tolerant landscaping, where possible.
Budget
The budget began at $12 million prior to submittal to the Division of the State Architect. Due to added multiple phasing, hampered site access, and performing work on an active campus, the project was completed at just over $14 million.
Special Challenges
The majority of work focused on the front of the school and its main parking lot. The District originally offered to handle temporary student housing but that was not the case, and our two-increment phase became a three-phase puzzle. Working with the General Contractor, the District and the Site Administrators was key to discussing our challenges and obtaining consensus regarding organized disruptions. We generated multiple plans to provide temporary Kindergarten housing while we used the existing Kinder buildings/rooms for a temporary Administration and a serving kitchen. Once the Administration and MPR/Kitchen were built, the existing Kinder building was restored to house the new Kinder population. Eventually, occupying the new buildings allowed for the temporary housing to be vacated and removed. Such was the nearly two-year process of ensuring a functioning campus while easing this usually quiet neighborhood's concerns about noisy construction activity.
Solution/Design
Designing four separate buildings allowed us to maintain a building scale consistent with the quaint neighborhood. Exterior brick veneer wainscots provided a more human scale and shed roofs - as opposed to gables - created the appearance of lower roof edges which faced the street, mimicking the surrounding neighborhood. Designing multiple, separate buildings allowed us to provide parking, better vehicular and pedestrian circulation, and transformed the campus' entire front façade.
Sustainable Design/Resiliency
This project eliminated four, unhealthy modular structures along with outdated and undersized permanent buildings. We created healthy and comfortable spaces more conducive to learning. |
