Award

y courtesy HDH Architects Churchill Community High School by Irwin Rapoport he $36.2-million expansion and renovation of the Churchill Regional High School in La Ronge, Saskatchewan, located in the north central region of the province, is expected to be fully completed by Christmas and the students, staff and community are looking forward to seeing an upgraded school maximize its full potential. With a growing student population, more modern facilities are needed to provide a first-class educational experience. "The renovated high school and new addition will provide an improved learning environment that supports student achievement," said Education Minister Ken Krawetz when funding for the school was announced in 2009. The school is an important community institution that serves a large territory, including several First Nations. The community was consulted on the project through a series of workshops. One of the community meetings was led by Jeff Howlett, an architect with Saskatoon-based Friggstad Downing Henry Architects. "[This is] the first step in the redevelopment of Churchill Community High School," Howlett told reporters at The La Ronge Northerner newspaper. Howlett added that the school underwent a "hodge podge" of nearly annual expansions during the 1960s and experienced a major renovation in 1981. "It's a well maintained, but tired building. Some of the 1981 construction is still sound," he was quoted as saying. The community discussions reflected the hard work of the CCHS Expansion committee, which spent over two years engaging various community stakeholders to help come up with ideas for the design and facilities, T Churchill Community High School p80-83Ivey_Churchill.indd 83 which can be used both by students and the public. This is important because the school's gym, theatre and meeting rooms needed to be designed to account for a variety of uses. Work on the project began in June 2011 and it essentially replaces a portion of the school built in 1964 and adds approximately 1,750 square-metres of space for students, teachers and the community. There will be 9,100 square metres of new and renovated space in total. The project is part of the Government of Saskatchewan's Ready for Growth commitment of more than $117 million for strengthening existing schools and new construction. Key features include the incorporation of the natural slope of the terrain into the design of the addition and new gymnasium, with the theatre placed on land 1,500 millimetres lower than the existing school and the student commons located on the high ground that overlooks the gymnasium and theatre. The placement and design of the student commons is crucial because it will create a social hub and centre for the school. This is being enhanced via an expansive and curving laminated wood roof structure to reinforce the importance of this communal space. The new structure was delivered to the school district last spring and portions of it are being used for classes. HDH Architects was commissioned to design the school. "The first consideration was to design a school that could support community and after school activities," states the firm on its website. "Second was the need to create academic clusters in the school such as the grouping of middle and secondary level. Third, there was a desire to create dynamic learning spaces not only within the classroom but also within the corridors and transitional spaces of the school. Finally, there was a desire to create a school that would reflect the spirit of the community and capture elements of nature found in La Ronge." A large lawn with trees and shrubs sits in front of the main facade/entrance of the school, with a paver walkway which takes students and visitors to the main entrance, which is supported by an entry canopy. A small grove of trees provides shade and greenery to help lighten the impact of the structure. Part of the structure is clad in a light beige brick, with the main wall extending from the entrance and along the road. This part of the facade features the use of various sized stripes of dark brown, light green, red and yellow to provide a muted flow of colours and make it a distinctive building. There is sufficient space for cars to drop off passengers and for buses to drop off/collect students. Pavers are used to created a triangle-shaped assembling area that leads to a more modest walkway. Wright Construction Western Ltd. is responsible for the construction and is now undertaking renovations in the existing structure and completing sections of the addition. "It was pretty straight-forward for the most part," says Chris Doka, Wright's project manager. "You always find things that you didn't know were there, but it's a typical renovation. We gutted the whole interior and re-did everything. It's a phased job – we close off one area and open it up for use when ready. We're still doing some work on the gym and classroom on the far west side. Doka's crews first built the addition, which was enclosed last fall and then concentrated on the renovations. Ensuring the school could operate while construction proceeds has been the main challenge, as well as ensuring "there are enough washrooms and other key elements to be able to operate is important," says Doka. "We didn't go into new areas until the areas we were working on were done. This meant having a good understanding of how the phasing works and that you can complete each phase before moving onto the next one. We meet with school officials every week, go through the plan for the week and make sure that all safety concerns are addressed." Prince Albert-based Prakash Consulting Ltd., the structural consultant on the project, played a key role as the original school had been expanded and renovated on numerous occasions and the general contractor and subcontractors needed a good layout of the school, its foundations and infrastructure. The slab-on-grade building has no crawl space or basement, with the mechanical and storage areas located on the second-storey elements. "The original school underwent five or six additions," says Martin Kiffiak, structural engineer. "We reviewed all the existing building components and found what needed to be addressed and what was up to code. Our original structural assessment was done in 2005 as part of the complete building review, and we started working on the drawings in 2008. "Typically, until the contractor actually starts the work, you never really know what you are going to find in an existing building," he adds. "The drawings were fairly accurate for this building, but it's the below ground structure that generally creates coordination issues and the foundations are primarily a problem because we can never see them." n location 1201 School Avenue, La Ronge, Saskatchewan Owner/Operator Northern Lights School Division 113 Architect HDH Architects General Contractor Wright Construction Western Ltd. Structural Consultant Prakash Consulting Ltd. Mechanical Consultant Daniels Wingerak Engineering Electrical Consultant Genivar Total Area 9,100 square metres Total Cost $36.2 million october 2013    /83 13-09-13 4:10 PM

• Cover