Award

AUGUST 2016 | 73 O'Chiese First Nation School RENDERING COURTESY O'CHIESE FIRST NATION O'Chiese First Nation School by ROBIN BRUNET N ormally, new schools are developed because the original facilities are either nearing the end of their useful life or simply too small to accommodate a growing population. But the O'Chiese First Nation School is a slightly different proposition. The original facility, located centrally in the O'Chiese First Nation Reserve in Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, is in and of itself a very functional building. What sparked the development of a new facility however, according to band manager Allan Littlejohn, was the opportunity to provide an even better learning experience in a region of the reserve that was undergoing new development. Littlejohn explains: "Certainly we wanted the new school to be bigger, but the new site also gave us the opportunity to create more outdoor recreational components, including track and field and a baseball diamond." Four years ago the idea of building a new school away from the reserve's central core took root, and when a suitable location was secured 10-kilometres northeast of the original site in 2013, development began in earnest, with the band council focused on addressing elements they felt had been lacking in the original facility. To design the project the band retained Architecture49 Inc., whose team has extensive experience in delivering kindergarten to Grade 12, First Nations, and post-secondary educational facilities that reflect the needs of their communities, while also demonstrating sensitivity to the ideas of differentiated learning styles, the movement toward more participatory learning and the technological trends that are changing teaching delivery. Ironically, the O'Chiese project required Architecture49's Victor Kolynchuk and colleagues to design a 50,000-square-foot facility that would separate rather than integrate the student body. "In the old school we had combined grade classrooms that really didn't do justice to each student's educational process, so our idea was to create learning environments for each specific grade, from kindergarten to Grade 12," says Littlejohn. Architecture49 also designed the school to have two distinct wings separated by a central core. "Again, it was an idea founded in the need to provide the ideal learning environment," says Littlejohn. The resulting design is both simple and elegant, with the two single-storey wood-framed classroom wings on the east and west sides and the large, tiered steel framed core containing the library, cafeteria, gymnasium and administrative spaces. Architecture49 designed the core of the school to be almost entirely covered by glulam wood decking, which is exposed to the spaces below. "The exterior colour scheme was important in that we wanted it to reflect native culture in some way," says Littlejohn. As such, the central core and base trim of the wings is a rich New Bedford brown, while the predominant colour of the wings is yellow/grey with a striking pattern of long horizontal New Bedford brown lines along the length of the structures. The entire main floor of the school has in-floor radiant heating and most of the rooms also have electrical outlets within the concrete structural slabs. This caused getting the foundations completed to be a major aspect of the project, as a lot of trade co-ordination was required before the slabs could be poured, according to Penn-Co Construction Inc. As with any new school project, consideration to future needs was taken into account. "Ultimately the building will be able to accommodate 325 students with room for future expansion," says Littlejohn. In September of 2014, with the work overseen by O'Chiese capital projects manager Shane Beston, Penn-Co Construction broke ground at the site – which, given that it was part of a new residential development, also received a new water treatment plant to service the school and surrounding houses, as well as new roads and $7 million in other infrastructure. As of July, finishing touches were being made to O'Chiese First Nation School in anticipation of a September opening. As for the old school, Littlejohn says it will have a bright future: "We intend to turn it into an adult learning facility and possibly a daycare, with the gym as a recreational component. "Meanwhile, the entire community is very excited about the opening of the new facility, and we're already seeing an increase in enrolment. Credit must be given to the designers and builders for doing such an outstanding job in a relatively short space of time." A LOCATION PO Box 1570, Rocky Mountain House, Alberta OWNER/DEVELOPER O'Chiese First Nation ARCHITECT Architecture49 Inc. GENERAL CONTRACTOR Penn-Co Construction Inc. TOTAL SIZE 50,000 square feet TOTAL COST $38 million

• Cover