The art and skill to getting the most out of K—12 school design
Enter the common space of the new Orchard Mesa Middle School in Grand Junction, CO and one immediately notices a series of organic, floor-to-ceiling tree-like structures that tower over students, administrators, and teachers moving through the space.
According to Lineham, Studio NYL founding principal, these trees were a creative ‘double-duty’ solution for great design and structural efficiency. By incorporating angled branches, the trees supported the roof trusses to shorten their span, achieving efficiency in the steel sizes of roof trusses.
The team behind the new 99,500 sf middle school including BG+co. and Studio NYL wanted the project to be ‘awe-inspiring’ and a place where students and staff wanted to be. These tree features are one example of an ‘awe inspiring’ element the team was able to achieve, all while paying homage to the community’s agrarian roots.” Ask any teacher or student and it’s clear that Orchard Mesa school is living up to its goal.
Photo by Steve Maylone, courtesy of BG+Co Architects
Photo by Steve Maylone, courtesy of BG+Co Architects
“With this project we wanted to break the mold and show how we could move away from a prototypical design and create something the community could be proud of,” said Lineham.
While Orchard Mesa is an example of a school designed to be different, school projects more often have an astounding number of similarities. Everything from programming to layout is somewhat consistent across the thousands of K-12 schools that educate America’s youth. But Studio NYL believes that even though our schools have the same bones, there is an art to using structure to get the most out of any school’s design.
School projects present an exciting and inspiring challenge for Studio NYL whose bread and butter is solving problems. When there is little wiggle room in a design, they are adept at using creative structural design to help their architectural partners express the character of a community and create more exciting and dynamic spaces for learning to happen—all while staying on schedule, and on budget.
Maximizing efficiency
K-12 school projects are inherently budget and time-constrained and these two factors require certain attributes from the teams responsible for making them happen.
“Efficiency in construction is absolutely critical in these projects, and the architects that we work with in this sector are particularly well organized,” said Lineham.
This is the same reason Studio NYL is a valued partner for architects leading the design of K-12 schools. With 17 years under their belt as Studio NYL (and an additional 7 years at a previous firm) and dozens of K-12 projects completed, they’ve developed a tried and tested set of systems that have proven to be effective in reducing cost and improving the architect’s ability to find opportunities for creativity and customization.
“Due to the number of schools we’ve worked on, we know how to approach the project and which issues to anticipate from day one so we can proactively ask the right questions,” said Lineham. “We have a great process that works for us and for our partners and clients.”
For example, Studio NYL has found that taking a ‘building block’ approach to school campuses is particularly effective—addressing areas of the building with unique structural or thermal attributes as zones to more quickly identify appropriate materials and systems. A concrete-block gymnasium that needs to handle heavy equipment hung from its roof for instance is structurally very different from the steel-framed classrooms that may adjoin it. By isolating different parts of the building the team can efficiently tackle how structural and mechanical integration affect massing, or how ductwork, roof drains, and roof slope impact the overall building geometry and structure.
“We know inherently how all the pieces fit together,” continued Lineham. “In many cases, the building’s programming is set in stone before we walk in the door, so we have to find the hidden and creative ways to help the architects play with unique geometries or other features.”
Photo courtesy of Davis Partnership Architects
Photo courtesy of Davis Partnership Architects
One example is Our Lady of Loreto Catholic School, located in Foxfield, CO designed by Ron Faleide and Davis Partnership Architects. While the building itself was very straightforward (a central corridor flanked by classrooms on both sides), structural details helped enable customized aspects of the design that celebrated the school’s religious values and harnessed elements that evoked spiritual growth, such as high ceilings, expansive daylighting, and soaring cantilevers.
“With a building of this layout engineers would typically run roof and floor joists parallel to the corridor between the shorter demising wall spans. We chose to span out from the corridor so that the typical roof and floor joist tails cantilevered out, and size it so that the cantilevered tails could create a folded wall plate on the building’s exterior elevation. This provided a cool architectural detail that didn’t require additional materials. Instead, we ‘got the element for free’ because creating it was just a matter of extending the tails of the joists.”
In other cases, the team can find opportunities for customization by focusing on ancillary spaces where unique design elements can be integrated in ways that are cost effective and support—rather than compete with—the programming.
“We want to help architects pull out everything they can do to make these spaces special and community-driven,” said Lineham.
Photo courtesy of Davis Partnership Architects
Cherrelyn Elementary school in Englewood, Colorado is an example of how thoughtful structural decisions enabled a more community-centric design that fundamentally impacted how students felt in the space. The 40,000 square foot building located in a low-income community replaced an aging facility that was originally built in 1948. The new school designed by hord coplan macht used the guiding philosophy that “school is a home,” sending a message to the students—and the wider community—that education matters, and there is a sense of pride in the work being done.
Designers and engineers focused on a learning commons where the kid’s could safely gather before and after school. They integrated an indoor fireplace to evoke the idea of a hearth, providing a sense of home and comfort. Students are welcomed to the building through a cantilevered front porch made of wood beams and metal joints—materials that one would find in a residential home. Studio NYL, along with other members of the design and construction team, donated to the fundraiser to keep the fireplace in the project when other district funds weren’t available for this feature, as it was clear how important that element was in the architect’s design.
“This school is located in a neighborhood where not every child has a safe place to go when school gets out. The learning commons became a very powerful symbol of the school both in its design and function.” said Lineham.
Photo courtesy of hord coplan macht
A local (and personal) impact
Both for Julian and co-founding principal Chris O’Hara, school projects are one of the ways they enjoy giving back to the community.
“A child’s education is so important to their future. Giving students the chance to thrive in buildings that are designed to support their needs and interests is something we are passionate about,” said Lineham.
This value becomes even more personal when it is your own children that you are helping to create a school for! Lineham’s older son attended Stargate Charter School, where 25 kids were housed in an old building at the Northglen Water Works, the City of Northglenn Colorado’s water treatment facility. As the school expanded, they grew to a facility located in a strip mall in Thornton, CO—a dimly lit and windowless facility that was even less ideal for learning. When the school expanded yet again, he jumped onto the real estate committee tasked with looking for land. Once the site was secure, he helped interview architects and agreed to donate some of Studio NYL’s time to serve as the structural engineers for the new facility. Both his sons attended this new school.
“Getting to design my own kids’ school was personally very rewarding and showed just how much our schools are integrated into every facet of our community,” said Lineham. “Plus, my kids are pretty proud.”