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76 | D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 1 Alex Janvier School P H OTO G R A P H Y BY Z AC H G R EEN E /CO U RT E S Y AC I A RC H I T EC T S I N C . ALEX JANVIER SCHOOL by PETER STENNING N ew public school develop- ment is always accompanied by challenges, foremost being the balancing act of trying to cre- ate something aesthetically pleasing as well as functional, while staying within government-mandated bud- gets and area allocations. Such was the case with the new Alex Janvier School, which accommodates 650 students in grades 4 through 9 and is located in Edmonton's Westlawn neighbourhood. The capital cost of Alex Janvier includes Aleda Patterson School (K-3), as both facilities were tendered together. "We had closed four schools with aging infrastructure and decided five years ago to open two new facili- ties that would take a 21st-Century approach to learning," says Terri Gosine, manager of capital projects at Edmonton Public Schools. Gosine adds, "We chose to deliver both schools in tandem under the IPD process, which allowed structural, mechanical, electrical, and other trades to work with the architects and builders early on in the project, lead- ing to a stronger and more efficient design approach." Devin McIntosh, ACI Architects Inc., points out that "as a 21st-Century learning environment school, it was crucial that the team develop a pro- gram and floorplan that utilized the areas allocated by the provincial grant agreement in an appropriate manner." Led by the architectural team, sev- eral workshops, seminars, and big room meetings were held early in 2019. "The process lasted about seven months and was intense, but we got one hell of a building out of it," McIntosh says. The final design incorporates a vast amount of natural light, while also allowing a large portion of open col- laborative spaces. "A two-storey open atrium with a curtain wall facing south and clerestories facing east and west brought in much of the light, with the curtain wall being fritted glass above nine feet to reduce heat gain," McIntosh says, adding that the colour scheme of the exterior was "kept sim- ple, save for student entrance accents, in keeping with the mature neigh- bourhood ambiance of Westlawn." Multiple openings were created to accommodate a fluid flow from classroom to learning commons spaces. "Altogether we designed five 'communities,' some with specialty classrooms, and rather than stu- dents using the main entrance we created different colour-coded doors that would lead to each community," Gosine says. "The front entrance is really more for guests. It leads first to the general office and then to a true feature of the school and the core of the building: a 'learning staircase' that can be used not only to access the second floor but also enable students to sit or stage performances." McIntosh notes that the staircase works with amphitheatre-style seat- ing in the learning commons to achieve its multi-purpose intent: "It's a beauti- ful structure made of steel and glulam. Elsewhere and throughout the school wood was used as an accent, but we kept the colour palette fairly neutral because this is an art-focused school and stu- dents would be encourage to decorate the interior with their own artwork." Gosine points out that flexibil- ity was the key in many of the design considerations. "For example, our learning commons is really spread out across the school, with pods of books on wheels and seating everywhere. Also, operable garage doors can quickly change classroom configura- tions depending on the need." Delnor Construction broke ground on the site in October of 2019, beside one of the junior high schools that was scheduled for demolition. Thanks to the IPD process, it was decided that Delnor would construct the school's gym using precast tilt-up concrete panels – and instead of the process taking several weeks, as would have been the case with standard concrete block assembly, tilt-up enabled the gym to be erected in one day. Also, despite the pandemic break- ing out at the height of construction, scrupulous adherence to safety stan- dards enabled Delnor and the entire IPD team to continue operation with- out any closures. McIntosh says, "When construction was completed and the teachers first came in to prepare for the fall season, their reaction was one of pride. It was amazing to see." Gosine includes herself in the ranks of proud Edmonton Public School Board members: "The proj- ect went really well, and it helped that our team had worked together on past projects," she says. "We couldn't be happier with the final outcome." A LOCATION 9535 167 Street NW, Edmonton, Alberta OWNER /DEVELOPER Edmonton Public School Board ARCHITECT ACI Architects Inc. GENER AL CONTR ACTOR Delnor Construction Ltd. STRUCTUR AL CONSULTANT Stantec Structural STRUCTUR AL STEEL CONTR ACTOR Spartan Steel MECHANICAL CONSULTANT Williams Engineering MECHANICAL CONTR ACTOR Priority Mechanical Ltd. ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT MCW Hemisphere Ltd. ELECTRICAL CONTR ACTOR Canadian Power Pac INTERIOR SYSTEMS CONTR ACTOR Ideal Contract Services Ltd. CIVIL CONSULTANT Al-Terra Engineering Ltd. L ANDSCAPE ARCHITECT Design North Landscape Architecture Inc. LEED CONSULTANT EcoAmmo TOTAL SIZE 6,399 square metres TOTAL COST $27.6 million