Award

FEBRUARY 2015 | 63 Amber Trails Community School by ROBIN BRUNET I magine a work site so cold and windy that the flame from a welder's torch bends 90 degrees, and portions of the building under construction remain unclad for as long as possible because heat- ing the interior would be cost prohibitive. It sounds like an industrial project in the far north. But in fact the facility is the Amber Trails Community School, located in a new suburb of Winnipeg. The 97,000-square-foot learning insti- tute is a showcase on several counts: first and foremost, it's one of only three schools in Manitoba to seek LEED Gold designa- tion (it was originally intended to meet only LEED Silver standards). Its design is so progressive that its owners, Seven Oaks School Division, is already incor- porating many elements into the plans of new schools scheduled for construction. And for everyone involved, Amber Trails is noteworthy as the project in which general contractor Bockstael Construction Ltd. pulled off a near mir- acle by completing the facility on time, despite a winter that was harsh even by Winnipeg standards. "Crews were work- ing in minus 50 degrees conditions and faced all sorts of problems," says Brian O'Leary, superintendent for the Seven Oaks School Division. "Yet they always came up with solutions and carried on. I can't over-emphasize what a spectacular feat of construction this was." Amber Trails is part of a rapidly evolving new housing development on the northwest edge of Winnipeg, intended to school 600 kindergarten to grade eight students with 60 staff plus a daycare. Seven Oaks had numerous requirements for the $24-million proj- ect, first and foremost being to "re-think the learning environment," according to O'Leary, as well as incorporate as many sustainable elements as possible. "The main features we wanted were plenty of natural light coming into the complex, a geothermal heating system and a rain- water collection system," says O'Leary. Instead of the traditional classroom/ hallway concept, Amber Trails would contain a series of learning pods on its two levels. "Each pod would have six to eight classrooms with its own wash- rooms, storage and resource offices," says Jamie Kozak, principal architect for Prairie Architects Inc. "We located the kindergarten in close proximity to the daycare on the main level along with grades one to three, and the pods for grades four to eight were located on the second storey." On the ground floor, the main corri- dor linking the pods was augmented by cubbyholes for students' winter cloth- ing, and an alcove with a lower ceiling and different lighting was created for each pod to act as a transition point between the corridor and the pod itself. Amber Trails would also turn the traditional school concept on its ear visually, due to the surrounding neigh- bourhood not having a communit y centre as part of its master plan. "With that in mind, we decided to relocate our gymnasium from the rear of the school and place it at the main entrance," says O'Leary, to which Kozak adds, "Instead of a typical big box structure, we gave the gym visual appeal by using glazing for the outer walls. This would serve two purposes: it would bring natural light into the facility and allow pedestri- ans in the new neighbourhood to see the activity inside. In short, the gym would seem alive and attract attention the way good community centres do." The first order of business for Bockstael was drainage. "The building site was essentially a nine-acre swamp, and it took three weeks with three, three-inch-diameter pipes to syphon the area, after which 7,000 yards of fill was brought in," says Kevin Dandewich, LOCATION 1575 Templeton Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba OWNER/DEVELOPER Seven Oaks School Division ARCHITECT Prairie Architects Inc. GENERAL CONTRACTOR Bockstael Construction Ltd. STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT Wolfrom Engineering Ltd. MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT MMM Group CIVIL CONSULTANT WSP Canada Inc. LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT HTFC Planning & Design TOTAL SIZE 97,000 square feet TOTAL COST $24 million PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY PRAIRIE ARCHITECTS Amber Trails Community School 11:14 AM

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