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78 | D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 1 Joan Carr Catholic Elementary/Junior High School R EN D ER I N GS CO U RT E S Y T H E WO R KU N GA R R I C K PA RT N ER S H I P A RC H I T EC T U R E A N D I N T ER I O R D E S I G N I N C . JOAN CARR CATHOLIC ELEMENTARY/JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL by LAURIE JONES A s many cities across the country are experiencing, Edmonton's expansion has created the need for another school in the Windermere district, an upper-middle class area of town. The K-9 Joan Carr Catholic Elementary/Junior High School will be home to 925 students, with sweeping floor-to-ceiling windows on the mod- ern, two-storey education facility. "The school is located in an area that's off the new ring road in Edmonton," says Rob Rabinovitch, principal, The Workun Garrick Partnership Architecture and Interior Design Inc. "That part of town has been growing for more than 10 years so it makes sense to add new schools. And this is a LEED Silver building so it will have a lot of features that cre- ate an eco-friendly environment for the students, including a higher per- formance building envelope, more efficient mechanical systems, lots of windows, and all of the lighting throughout the school is LED to help reduce energy consumption." Two gymnasiums offer space for the students, with one being lined for sports and the other an open area for physical education and play. "The central Learning Commons is the hub of the school that con- nects the two sections of the school," Rabinovitch explains. "It also pro- vides connection and circulation between the various learning com- munities on the first and second floors, and other amenity spaces like the gymnasium, administration areas, and the music classroom." Besides the featured window, the learning stair in the middle of the school not only provides an atrium connection between the two levels, but it will be used as a theatre space for assemblies or presentations, and an area where students can sit and read a book or just hang out. Another unique feature of the school is on the roof, where scoops, or tilted clerestory sec- tions provide light to the interior. Rabinovitch says the exterior of the school incorporates natural ele- ments to the design including wood features, ACM panels, corrugated metal cladding, modern brick veneer, and masonry. "The metal finishes are fairly neutral in colour, and some green and yellow tones provide fresh- ness and visual interest." Inside, colours create some wayfinding, par- ticularly for the younger students. "Some of the accent colours help give a better identification to various areas of the school." Travis Hoose, manager of facil- ity infrastructure for the Edmonton Catholic Schools confirms the Learning Commons is the wow fac- tor of the building. "It goes the entire length of the building with the con- nector bridge between the two sections of the school. There are two-storey windows on each end of the section, which bring lots of natural light into the space. This lin- ear section divides the school into learning communities with the kin- dergarten to grade six on one side, and grades seven to nine on the other, where the junior high sci- ences and arts classes are located, along with the regular classrooms." The Joan Carr Catholic Elementary/ Junior High School participates in a joint-use agreement with the City of Edmonton for shared use of our facili- ties. "That means the facility can be used by community groups and sports teams, as well as concerts and perfor- mances by the students year-round," says Hoose. "Outside, there will be a playground and sports fields." Kaylan Austring, senior proj- ect manager and principal at Delnor Construction Ltd. says during con- struction, additional requirements and planning were needed to access some large, two-storey high areas in the school with lifts and scaffold- ing. "Tall masonry walls provided some challenges as they were com- pleted within winter conditions and needed heat and hoarding for weeks of work," he explains. "The requirement for structural bracing for hoarding scaffolding on high walls also pro- vides challenges." Within the LEED features of the building, the mechani- cal systems are metered for end user tracking and analytics. "By far, the nicest aspect of the school are the nine-metre curtain walls that provide natural light into the feature/learning stair in the mid- dle of the main learning commons and open concept library," he says. "The City of Edmonton is constructing sports fields adjacent to our site, but we also have an asphalt play surface for year-round use by the students." Opening day for the Joan Carr Catholic Elementary/Junior High School is set for September 2022. A LOCATION 1140 Keswick Drive, Edmonton, Alberta OWNER /DEVELOPER Edmonton Catholic School District ARCHITECT The Workun Garrick Partnership Architecture and Interior Design Inc. GENER AL CONTR ACTOR Delnor Construction Ltd. STRUCTUR AL CONSULTANT Entuitive MECHANICAL /ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT MCW Hemisphere Ltd. L ANDSCAPE ARCHITECT Design North Landscape Architecture Inc. TOTAL SIZE 81,666 square feet TOTAL COST 19.8 million