Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/607779
DECEMBER 2015 | 81 Joussard School RENDERINGS COURTESY THE WORKUN GARRICK PARTNERSHIP ARCHITECTURE AND INTERIOR DESIGN INC. Joussard School by LAURIE JONES J anuary 2016 will see an exciting start to the New Year for the residents of the remote town of Joussard, Alberta, with the official ribbon cutting for Joussard School. The kindergarten to grade six education facility will be more than twice the size of the existing school, which was originally built in the 1950s. "The old school had four additions to the main block building," says Lionel (Butch) Gagnon, director of facilities. "Usually with a block building you can add on without problems, but when we did some testing on the footing of the 1972 section of the school, we found that there was no strength in the founda- tion. There was no use spending money to renovate it so we decided to apply for funding for a brand new school." In a small community like Joussard, the school often becomes a multipur- pose facility as it is the building with the largest meeting rooms. It is also used for adult continuing education classes and functions outside of school hours. Gagnon says one component of the design that the school district's super- intendent wanted was a built-in, four- foot-high stage for presentations by students. "We incorporated that stage into the dedicated music room that opens onto the gym so students can put on concerts or other shows. It is a great way to create a dual-purpose room." For the artistic students, the art room, which doubles as a regular classroom, was also designed with unique attri- butes including double sinks and a dry- ing rack room off of the main room for the students' art projects. Another area in the school that has a significant wow factor is the library. "It has a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows that are 18-feet high," says Gagnon. "When you are at the front entrance and central gathering area, you can see the glass doors to the library and straight through to the grounds outside." Gagnon says the Joussard School design incorporated an industrial kitchen to facilitate breakfast and lunch pro- grams for the children. "With the First Nations population of the school com- ing from the neighbouring Driftpile and Sucker Creek reservations, a hot lunch program was put into place," he explains. Rob Rabinov itch, par t ner w it h The Work un Garrick Par t nership Architecture and Interior Design Inc., the bridging architect, says the design for Joussard School is a modification from a school that was built previously in Grand Prairie, Alberta. "The L-shape of the new building wraps around the old one so it could be left in place and operational during construction. This was done to meet the challenge of the new school being built on the same site as the old one. When it is finished, the old building will be torn down to make way for a teacher's parking lot and a bus loop for dropping students off." The design/build project is being built to LEED Silver standards with the inclusion of as much natural lighting as possible, recycled products for con- struction and new technology installa- tions. "The old school is fairly aged and grossly undersized," says Rabinovitch. "They don't have new technology or updated facilities that will be in the new school, which has an open, bright feel with access to technology and a gymnasium that is twice as large as the previous facility for activities. We have also incorporated clerestory lights around the common meeting area to increase the brightness." Rabinovitch adds that once the fall months arrive, there is not a lot of day- light hours in the region so having as much natural light as possible during school hours is important. "The whole idea is to get as much light in when the students are actually there, with abun- dant natural light and energy-efficient indoor lighting when necessary." Rabinovitch says one of the major challenges was trying to build the new school while maintaining full scheduled operations throughout the construc- tion site. But the process was beneficial in that the students and teachers could see the changes happening every day and everyone was excited to get into the new facility. Leland Stelck, senior architectural technologist with ACI Architects Inc., says the school consists of solid building materials. "Our interior designers came up with a nice use of porcelain tiles in the wet spaces. The tiles are durable but they look really good. The colour theme for the school includes blue variations on the colour palette. The exterior is done in a royal blue metal finish and all of the exterior walls include Persist systems for rain screen," says Stelck. Finishes for the school's interior include clear maple on the cabinets, porcelain tiles and VCT flooring. Exterior landscaping will be started in the spring and will consist of soft plants that will absorb excess rainfall because there is no stormwater system to tie into. The existing playgrounds and fields are all staying as they were before. Shane Heint z, project manager for Jen-Col Construction Ltd. says for safety reasons, the team always had to be aware of where the students were. "One of the most important consider- ations in doing this build was the safety of the kids. The two buildings were so close during construction they were almost within touching distance, so we wanted to make sure the construction zones were clear." Heintz says as the work progressed it was interesting to see the contrast between the existing structure and the new school because they are right next to each other. "To see that difference, and the progress, is exciting. Residents of the community know they will have a building they can use for many decades to come," concludes Heintz. A LOCATION 12 Lakeview Drive, Joussard, Alberta OWNER/DEVELOPER High Prairie School Division #48 BRIDGING ARCHITECT The Workun Garrick Partnership Architecture and Interior Design Inc. ARCHITECT OF RECORD ACI Architects Inc. DESIGN BUILD CONTRACTOR Jen-Col Construction Ltd. STRUCTURAL/ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT Scheunhage Popek & Associates (SPA) Ltd. MECHANICAL/CIVIL CONSULTANT Williams Engineering Canada TOTAL SIZE 30,871 square feet TOTAL COST $11 million 11:13 AM 9:46 AM