Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1433288
D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 1 | 73 Woodhaven Middle School WOODHAVEN MIDDLE SCHOOL by ROBIN BRUNET T he expansion and modern- ization of Woodhaven Middle School in Spruce Grove, Alberta has almost doubled its capacity to 885 students, and this, plus many other attributes were achieved due to a close collaboration between Parkland School Division (PSD) and Stuart Olson Construction, as well as an especially motivated Chris Woollard, senior partner at START Architecture. Woollard explains, "I attended Woodhaven from 1984 to 1986, have family members who teach there and nieces who are students, so I was keen to give my old school the moderniza- tion it deserved." Shauna Boyce, superintendent of schools/CEO at PSD, says, "This proj- ect was announced about five years ago. Woodhaven needed flexible and non-traditional spaces to foster collab- oration, along with plenty of natural light and a sense of space." However, the main challenge was obvious. "We had to undergo a major construction project in a fully func- tioning school," explains Woodhaven's principal, Chris Shaw. "The staff and our construction partners spared no effort to keep inquisitive minds away from areas of potential danger." Woollard describes the origi- nal facility as "Having good bones but never receiving any substantial upgrades since it was built in the 1970s – as evidenced by the fact the core school had only four windows." In order to add 3,000 square metres to Woodhaven, the project was broken down into phases. "Very sim- ply put, modulars would be moved from the north to the south side of the school, and at the north end would be the new addition including a new gym, food labs, gathering spaces, and classrooms," Woollard says. "This approach had several advan- tages, the key being that staff and kids could remain in the original school as Stuart Olson built the addition and then move into the addition when it was completed, leaving the build- ers free to focus on the modernization – which would include a complete replacement of aging systems." The joining of the addition to the modernized school provided a great opportunity to create a centrally located entrance. "The old school had two entrances indistinguishable from each another, so since one was at the north end we revamped it and closed the other," Woollard says. "We then spun the existing administra- tion area 180 degrees so it faced the new entrance, and in this region we located the gym and gathering space." Special attention was paid to sound abatement, since new classrooms were grouped around the gym to maximize natural light. As for the modernization, Woollard says, "We created a new envelope of exterior insulation, metal cladding, and new windows, capped by a new roof. We reconfigured some rooms and transformed the old gym's change rooms into counsellor support spaces. Polished concrete flooring and painted P H OTO G R A P H Y BY M I C H A EL M A N C H A KOWS K I /CO U RT E S Y S TA RT A RC H I T EC T U R E