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FEBRUA RY 2017 | 71 École Sage Creek School RENDERINGS COURTESY NUMBER TEN ARCHITECTURAL GROUP École Sage Creek School by PETER STENNING I n the fall of 2015, when construction of the LEED Gold-targeted École Sage Creek School in Winnipeg had just commenced, its soon-to-be principal Marc Poirier remarked, "The look of the school is going to be amazing and far from typical. It's going to be a state-of-the-art school." Poirier went on to note: "The common areas are going to be great for both teachers and students to extend their classrooms, and to collaborate with other classes. Also, it's not only going to look great, it will answer the needs of kids and teachers to ensure deeper learning. That's the most impressive part for me; not just the look of it, but that it will be a great place to learn." École Sage Creek is located in an area of wetlands and parks, connected by an inviting network of trails that converge on the Sage Creek community's village centre. The dual track school, with capacity for up to 600 students from Kindergarten to Grade 8 (including a daycare), was designed to celebrate its surroundings by bringing the outdoors in (with the premise that children learn better when engaged and moving). It also features a practical arts classroom, a Makers' Studio, as well as a two- storey learning commons and library. Number Ten Architectural Group was retained by Louis Riel School Division and the Public Schools Finance Board in September 2013 to create what would become, in terms of structural appearance, an attractive amalgamation of spaces, with varying textures and colours of masonry, glazing and Tyndall stone – all carried into the school's common space to help blur the lines between exterior and interior, and reflect the natural qualities and colours of the Prairie region. The textures also included a wall imbedded with real fossils, in order to advance the notion of the building itself being a learning tool. Number Ten associate and education and recreation studio lead Christina Legris and her colleagues developed a design accommodating the 21st-century learning principals that, in architectural terms, downplay the presence of corridors and favour flexibility and integration. "We organized the school into neighbourhoods, with each neighbourhood being five or six classrooms grouped around a common teaching space," Legris explains, adding that the walls of some classrooms were designed to retract so as to create larger collaborative spaces for group lectures or other uses. Floor-to-ceiling, double- height spaces were also developed to impart a sense of scale not commonly found in traditional school design, and help to visually connect the main floor commons space with the second floor learning commons or library space. Poirier notes that another purpose of École Sage Creek School is to "bring the community together and help people get to know their neighbours." To this end, instead of designing a traditional library, Legris created a main floor learning commons for the general public. "It somewhat resembles a living room, and looking over this space on the second level is the library with media spaces," she says. "It was important to create a welcoming flow, so just beyond the main entrance you have the learning commons with a direct view through the building to the Early Years Outdoor Learning Lab, and a view of the upstairs library and media spaces, followed by short corridors that lead directly to the different neighbourhoods." An emphasis on bringing as much natural light into the building resulted not only in a gymnasium whose southeast corner is framed with floor-to-ceiling glazing, but also the unique ability "for anyone, no matter where they are located within the school, to see the exterior surroundings," according to Legris. The school's south wing was designed to have a garage door that, when open during the warm months to the Makers' Studio Outdoor Lab, provides an indoor/outdoor studio space. Key to the indoor/outdoor design theme is what Legris describes as "just over five acres of carefully designed landscape, serving as an active playground with bridges, stumps and various flora plantings indigenous to the region." Given the school's reverence for all things natural, the building's extensive exterior glazing was imbedded with a subtle dot pattern to prevent migratory birds from impacting against the glass. Tyler Smeall, structural engineer at Crosier Kilgour & Partners Ltd., LOCATION 340 Sage Creek Boulevard, Winnipeg, Manitoba OWNER/DEVELOPER Louis Riel School Division / Public Schools Finance Board ARCHITECT Number TEN Architectural Group GENERAL CONTRACTOR Bockstael Construction Limited STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT Crosier Kilgour & Partners Ltd. MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL/ LEED CONSULTANT MMM Group Limited (now WSP Canada) TOTAL SIZE 77,0000 square feet TOTAL COST $22.5 million 3:40 PM 10:40 AM

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