Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/124234
Warman Community Middle School renderings courtesy aodbt architecture + interior design by William Mbaho his fall will mark the opening of Prairie Spirit School contractor and owner has also been very beneficial because Division's newest school, Warman Community Middle of the tight timeline. As a result, the school will be a unique School, approximately 20 kilometres north of Sas- environment for students and administrators. katoon. The project is one of five new provincially-funded "Students will have access to the Legends Centre food serschools in Saskatchewan that are part of a total investment of vices and commons area," says Donst. "The parking lot for the $95 million. The school is part of a joint-use project with the school and the bus drop-off is on the Legends Centre property. city of Warman's Legends Centre, a multi-purpose sporting Students who are dropped off by bus will walk through the facility in the community's north end. Legends Centre to enter the school building." A committee including representatives of both the Town There will also be some city office and storage space conand School Division was established to work with aodbt tained within the school building. Architecture + Interior Design to define and prioritize proThe new school will have access to gym facilities in the gram requirements for the community and school, and to sports complex as part of a joint-use agreement signed identify joint use opportunities. This report was used as a between the city and school division. The local community reference as the concept design for the school was developed. will in turn have access to the theatre and library in the new The basic requirements of the school facility included school. developing a building with space for a core group of 700 Construction of the two-storey middle school was students with an opening enrollment of approximately 600 attached to an existing pre-engineered building. The in-floor students. heating source is from the Legends Centre boiler system, The Legends Complex includes a hockey arena, soccer and the ceiling radiant cooling panels are connected to the pitches and gym facilities. "One of the chalLegends Centre's chiller. lenges was combining the vision of the city The building is a combination of strucand the school division to provide a fully tural steel and load-bearing masonry for functional integrated facility that meets support structure with structural slabs the requirements of the provincial Minison the main floor and hollow core on the try of Education," says Kerry Donst, facilisecond floor. The boiler and chiller from ties planner for the Prairie Spirit School the existing Legends Centre heat and cool Division. "There was also a tight constructhe school using in-floor heat and overhead tion schedule," Donst says. radiant cooling. "When we began the development The heating and cooling systems utilize of the school, one of the most resoundthe waste energy from the ice plant in the ing interests from the students was the arena and are integrated with the existing green/ ecological aspects of what we were – Kerry Donst, arena systems. trying to achieve," explains Daniel Reeves, "The integrated project delivery allowed facilities planner, Prairie principal at aodbt Architecture + Interior Spirit School Division. for the use of the arena systems to reduce Design. "We took cues for the elevations the energy consumption of both the existfrom these ideas." ing arena and new school buildings, as well as to reduce the Rather than use distinct stripes, aodbt attempted to overall mechanical cost of both buildings," says Heric Holmes, soften the banding of materials by blending it in an irregular senior engineer at MacPherson Engineering. pattern, similar to the mottled effect of shadows cast by tree MacPherson Engineering worked on the building's branches. "We intended it to mimic the variance of colour design in 2011, with five staff members directly involved found in natural materials, but in a very modular off-the-shelf in the project. use of standard materials," adds Reeves. "The major project challenge was the integration of the Construction of the school started in January 2012, and new mechanical systems with the existing systems associthe school is scheduled to open in September 2013. "We had ated with the arena," says Holmes. to coordinate the school construction with the attached LegFellow engineers who worked on the project agree the ends Centre that was already operational," says Donst. unique building arrangement was particularly difficult to Over 25 staff from the Prairie Spirit School Division are overcome. "The challenges for the project stemmed from the involved with the project, and collaboration with city officials nature of the joint-use facility," says Alena Sherwood, electrihas been key, he says. cal design engineer at PWA Engineering Ltd. Donst adds that the cooperation of the design team, "The school, being attached to the Legends Centre, meant T " Our cooperation with the city has been excellent, and it has really contributed to the success of the project thus far." Warman Community Middle School p98-99Warman.indd 99 LOCATION 700 Gowan Road Warman, Saskatchewan OWNER & DEVELOPER Prairie Spirit School Division No. 206 ARCHITECT/leed consultant aodbt Architecture + Interior Design GENERAL CONTRACTOR Wright Construction Western Inc. STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT Brownlee Beaton Kreke MECHANICAL CONSULTANT MacPherson Engineering ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT PWA Engineering Ltd. LANDSCAPE CONSULTANT AECOM TOTAL AREA 86,801 square foot TOTAL CONSTRUCTION COST $23.1 million there was some crossover between the mechanical and electrical systems. Also, the school's theatre will be used for community purposes and by the Barn Playhouse, so we wanted to be sure to get input from all parties for the design of the theatrical systems." PWA Engineering also started on the project in 2011. After the design was completed and the drawings went to tender last fall, four members of the firm worked directly on the project. "In every classroom we're providing suspended light fixtures with a directindirect distribution, which creates a balanced brightness and reduces glare for visual comfort," Sherwood says. "Each classroom has a daylight harvesting system, including a daylight sensor and dimming ballasts in the light fixtures that will dim the lights to the appropriate level when there is enough natural sunlight coming in from the windows." The Warman Community Middle School is part of a larger initiative in Saskatchewan to renovate existing schools and build new schools. n April 2013 /99 13-04-05 2:31 PM