Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/147234
courtesy aodbt architecture + interior design Ecole St. Thomas Elementary School by Irwin Rapoport lberta's Lloydminster Roman Catholic Separate School Division (LCSD) will open the doors of its new $23-million, two-storey Pre-K to grade seven Ecole St. Thomas Elementary School in the City of Lloydminster on August 26, 2013. Ecole St. Thomas is moving from an existing school, which is overcrowded and lacks modern pedagogical tools, into a corrugated metal-clad school that has been designed and built to secure LEED Silver certification. The school has a capacity for 600 students and over 30 teachers and administrative staff, and is located next to Holy Rosary High School. Both facilities will share many external services, including a common student bussing drop-off lane and a regulation baseball field, soccer and football field with rubber track. "The significant year-over-year growth of our French immersion program in our city made our old building far too restrictive to provide adequate programming," says Doug Robertson, the board's director of education. He adds that serious planning went into the design to create a modern learning atmosphere. "What is both innovative and exciting is the move to a 'learning studio' format from a traditional library format: a studio that will house all learning resources; learning support personnel including learning assistant teachers and education assistants; and be the book and digital resource hub of the building," says Robertson. The design combines modern architecture and learning techniques and technologies. The school – irregularly shaped with many irregular angles – has classrooms with built-in alcoves for story and conversation centres for second language learning. While there is a front entrance for visitors, students will use the very long entrance at the back of the school that opens onto the playing field. It is central to both the bus drop-off on one side of the field and a private vehicle drop-off lane on the other side of the field. This helps to disperse students and limit congestion. "This innovative transportation structure will certainly assist with supervision," says Robertson. "We definitely focused on people movement and safety." The LEED design maximizes daylight and energy efficiency. The school's physical orientation was placed for optimal sunlight. "For most of the spring and fall the lights won't actually be on in the classrooms. In winter probably only half the lights come on during the day," says Robertson. "There are sun shades on the south elevation and we have a number of clerestory windows on the north elevations to augment daylight penetration in the instructional and circulation spaces," adds Louis Aussant, partner at aodbt architecture + interior design and principle architect for the project. "Perforated corrugated metal cladding is positioned over top of A Ecole St. Thomas Elementary School p88-89Motion_Ecole St.Thomas.indd 89 the south-facing glazed areas of the resource centre that cuts down on solar heat gain and provides sun shading, a technique we used for other schools." Aodbt architecture + interior design has designed several schools for the Lloydminster RCS, says Aussant. "The shape is unique – laid out in a 'cranked shank' fashion that allows us to have the large boot room link with direct access to the playground, regardless of what grade you are in," he says. "The school is a little longer, but is very functional and has efficient circulation." The daycare and the kindergarten have separate parent drop-off areas. A special area was designed for the regional band where musicians can rehearse, repair and store the instruments. The school's colours are blue and white and are featured prominently on the exterior and interior, with the east side being a tribute to the Montreal Canadiens with blue, red and white panels. Eight colours were used in total for the panels. "We want the school to be playful because it is about children and learning," says Aussant. "Glazing and capturing daylight were important and we have a lot of windows – triple-glazed, energy-efficient units. We avoided the need for a basement level by locating the mechanical and electrical infrastructure inside of the two-storey gym." The basis for the interior finishes and materials are durability and low-maintenance. The flooring in the classroom areas is Marmoleum and for the high-traffic areas, such as washrooms and corridors, porcelain floor tile is used. "Medium density fibreboard was used for many of the wall surfaces – it's very durable and cost effective," says Aussant. "We focus on coming up with structures that are easily adoptable for future generations." This philosophy also applies to minimizing the number of load-bearing walls in the school so that floor plans can be changed in the future as educational techniques change. The FIBA standard gym at the west end of the school has motorized spectator bleachers (telescoping bleachers) and solid glass walls to link it to adjacent common areas and circulation spaces, as well as locker and shower areas. Large windows play a major role in the learning studio that "is flooded with daylight," says Aussant. "We were able to integrate all design aspects horizontally and vertically, on a modest budget and program, and find a lot of synergies. We also installed a bridge that connects the second floor to a running track that surrounds the gymnasium." Substantial completion of the school is expected in mid-July, with a full turnover in August, says Robert Potts, Marshall-Lee Construction's project manager. The building's angles and steel cladding posed some challenges. "We had to go to adjustable Z-Bars to support the cladding system as we found our tolerances weren't there with the design angles," says Potts. LEED construction added to the complexity of the work via materials, infrastructure and building techniques. "Stockpiles of soil and clay had to be put back into the fields and we had to seed the area with ryegrass to prevent erosion and dust being blown away," says Potts. "We had creative ways to build swales to keep the earth on-site and installed silt fences all around the mound." Potts adds that separating the garbage was extremely important. "We had to manage ourselves and the subs to make sure that any steel, concrete, drywall, asphalt and wood were placed in different bins and piles, and it definitely takes extra labour and time than just taking it to a landfill." Documentation needed to be collected to prove that 75 per cent of these materials were recycled by the landfill operators. Potts says that the experience was positive because it shows that the firm can handle LEED projects, which are now the standard required by the Alberta government. n Location 5216 – 44th Street Lloydminster, Alberta Owner/Developer Lloydminster RCS School Division Architect aodbt architecture + interior design General Contractor Marshall-Lee Construction Structural Consultant JC Kenyon Engineering Mechanical Consultant MacPherson Engineering Inc. Electrical Consultant Ritenburg & Associates Ltd. Total Area 62,000 square feet Construction Cost $23 million august 2013 /89 13-07-12 2:08 PM