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FEBRUARY 2015 | 79 Okanagan Mission Secondary School PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY CEI ARCHITECTURE / LIPSETT PHOTOGRAPHY GROUP Okanagan Mission Secondary School by ZUZANNA WODZYNSKA LOCATION 4544 Gordon Drive, Kelowna, B.C. OWNER/DEVELOPER School District #23 ARCHITECT CEI Architecture GENERAL CONTRACTOR Delnor Construction Ltd. STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT CWMM Consulting Engineers Ltd. MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT Smith + Andersen Engineering CIVIL & LANDSCAPE CONSULTANT MMM Group TOTAL AREA 2,944 square metres (new addition); 1,043 square metres (renovated space) TOTAL COST $15 million O kanagan Mission Secondary School in southeastern Kelowna, B.C. has received a much-needed upgrade. With two new additions as well as some renovations to existing space, the school will be able to accommodate an additional 300 students. A new 16-classroom wing was added on one end of the campus, while the other end saw the construction of a new gymnasium and upgraded drama room. The main entrance to the academic area now has deep sloping canopies with cross-laminated timber (CLT) pan- els that eliminate the need for added sof- fiting and respect the province's Wood First Initiative. Glulam has been used for the timber beams and columns in the new gym roof and drama foyer. Marmoleum flooring was used, and corridors have drywall with plywood back and concrete block to provide a robust and durable structure. The exterior colour palette specifi- cally references the Okanagan area, with light and dark contrasting colours and a red-brown accent. "A dark colour anchors the structure to the ground and defines the limits of the perimeter, while a lighter contrasting colour allows the accent to be magnified," explains Nick Bevanda, lead architect on the project at CEI Architecture. While it may be more vibrant than the existing facility, a goal of the project was to create neutral transition areas between the old building and new addi- tions. This was achieved through glaz- ing in the extended corridors that serve as a link between them, and through the strategic placement of the classroom wing, which created a new outdoor courtyard area. The new wing itself is a long, single- storey wood structure, with suspended cloud ceilings in classrooms to give the impression of a large space and features large windows for natural lighting. The corridors are double-loaded with mechanical space in the basement, and there is a central, multi-purpose area allowing teachers easy access to extra room for project work, special events, or lessons. On the other end of the campus, a new gymnasium and drama room have been added. The school originally had the equivalent of one-and-a-half gyms and while the half-size gymnasium was used for practices, it was insuffi- cient to host big games. It has now been expanded and repurposed into the new drama facility, with fixed seating allow- ing 130 audience members to enjoy the students' various productions. Above the new drama area, a cable safety grid consisting of a woven mesh of steel cables tensioned between a steel compression frame hangs from the roof structure. "The grid is, to my knowledge, one of only two in B.C.," says Mike Naylor, structural engineer on the project at CWMM Consulting Engineers Ltd. "It allows students full access over the entire drama area floor during classes and per- formance to optimize lighting layouts and to perfect stagecraft techniques." To replace the repurposed gymna- sium, a brand new, full-sized gymna- sium was built. It has large windows to allow for natural lighting and clear- coated birch plywood was used for the wall finish, again in compliance with the Wood First Initiative. "You get a nice wood finish to the walls this way, but it's also very durable," says Ken Kovacs, project manager for School District #23. "Natural light is also a key factor in a lot of learning research with a comparison in energy savings; we're building with energy efficiency in mind and large win- dows are a positive part of it." Another way of reducing the carbon footprint of the new additions is through primary heating and cooling systems. The school's upgraded areas feature an open geoexchange system where heat is either extracted from, or rejected to, water drawn from the production well, then returned to the aquifer. "A significant portion of the build- ing's heating energy, which would tra- ditionally be generated by burning fossil fuels, is thus provided free of cost and carbon emission from the ground itself," explains Andrew Stringer, the mechani- cal engineer on the project from Smith + Andersen Engineering. Moreover, in the existing school struc- tures the distributed heat pump system requires both supply and return piping networks to carry water to and from the heat pump for heating and cooling. The new facilities, however, have a single piping loop implemented, with one pipe running from the mechanical room, around the perimeter, and back to the mechanical room. "It's a simplified piping arrangement, reducing system complexity as well as installation costs, all while making use of energy efficient systems," says Stringer. The system has also been set up for future implementa- tion in the rest of the school. Though construction began during the summer break in July 2013, it con- tinued throughout the following school year, bringing with it the typical trials of occupied building renovation. There were other challenges to keep the teams on their toes, however. One of the more unique ones was caused by the new gym- nasium. "We needed to create a gymna- sium that had sufficient headroom to meet the Volleyball Canada regulation for Canada Games competitions, whilst keeping the overall height of the struc- ture to a minimum," explains Naylor. The solution was to employ a unique underslung beam design that combined the esthetics and warmth of glulam wood beams with the functionality of steel tension elements. "This combina- tion enabled a significant reduction in the overall volume of wood used while at the same time allowing the structure to elegantly span the 23-metre width of the gym, all within a minimal structure depth," says Naylor. By incorporat ing 21st Cent ur y Learning Principles in both the design of the learning space and in teach- ing approaches, the team behind the Okanagan Mission Secondary School upgrade has created a new and innova- tive space to inspire its students. "Over the years, we'll take a look at these sorts of projects and evaluate," says Kovacs. "In the meantime, we have a very excited group in those rooms." A 3:20 PM April 2015 ANNUAL INDUSTRY FEATURE: Structural Steel Book your ad space now: Dan Chapman 604.473.0316 Alexander Sugden 604.473.0358

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