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OCTOBER 2017 | 85 Marshall Springs School PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF CALGARY BOARD OF EDUCATION Marshall Springs School by ANGELA ALTASS T he community of Evergreen in Calgary, Alberta welcomed in the 2017 school year with a new school for students in grades five to nine. Marshall Springs School is a two-storey, 105,400-square-foot building located at 1100 Everridge Drive Southwest. "The building is nestled in Evergreen, adjacent to community play fields with a soccer field and two baseball diamonds," says Stephen Bugbee, partner at Zeidler Architecture. The vision for the school was a collaborative one and was refined through engagement with the design team, the school board and the surrounding community through internal design sessions and community open houses, says Bugbee. "A lot of thought went into the design in terms of occupant comfort," says Julien Poirier, project manager, sustainability and energy, WSP. "The building is designed to provide lighting control for uses and to meet thermal comfort requirements. Our role, as LEED consultant, was to assist the team and owner in keeping the sustainable goal on track by working to find solutions as problems arose." The building includes some cost- effective strategies in addition to minimizing energy and water consumption, such as having a facility joint-use plan enabling the community to use the school facilities and having a durable building consultant on board to make sure the building will last, says Poirier. "The exterior design is a contemporary architectural massing inspired by both the horizontality of the prairie landscape and the variation present as that f lat prairie landscape collides with the rolling terrain of the foothills along the Rocky Mountains of Alberta," notes Bugbee. "This geography is further expressed in the horizontal banding configuration of the masonry podium, glazing elements and the metal siding stacked above to the sky. The horizontal pattern is interrupted through the use of juxtaposed vertical elements like the Aspen stands along the foothills." The building is designed with the use of cantilevered built form, which provides natural covered walkways on the main facade facing south and outdoor covered parking level on the east, notes Bugbee. "The larger massing components rise above the podium and are playfully detailed and expressed with a checkerboard pattern separating them from the horizontal elements of the main building form," says Bugbee. "The building has been designed volumetrically to provide visual openness to student activity through the use of higher interior volumes for all main rooms. Two storey gathering spaces open onto both levels of the interior and the outdoor plaza places, welcoming both student academic and social activities throughout the building and grounds." With approximately 22 classrooms, two science rooms and separate rooms for drama, art and music, the school also features a wood shop and a food lab. The administration area is centrally located adjacent to the main entry and oversees the main student gathering and commons spaces. The school features a spacious central student gathering space and adjacent to the student learning commons is an interior open- air landscaped garden and two gymnasiums. The large gymnasium is designed for competitive sports with additional height, and the smaller gymnasium is purposed for recreational sports. "There is a large interior gathering space as well as some great outdoor space for the staff and students," says Chris Grant, VP construction, Lear Construction Management Ltd. "There is also an internal outdoor courtyard teaching space. The exterior finishes are architectural block and metal panels. The interiors are linoleum floors, painted drywall and acoustic tile ceilings. The overall structure is structural steel with the gymnasiums built with structural masonry." Structurally, the building has a multi-storey steel frame and reinforced concrete block masonry load bearing walls, says Alp Enginsal, structural engineer, Williams Engineering. "The composite steel floor decks are supported on open web steel joists," says Enginsal. "The floor loads are transferred to the concrete foundation walls using a steel braced frame and load bearing concrete block walls. The layout of the school is pretty unique. Structurally, the second floor has pretty significant cantilevers along one end." Deriving inspiration for material and colour from the natural colour palettes of the foothill's landscape, the exterior material choice features darker podium masonry and lighter metal cladding above, says Bugbee. "The horizontal banding is highlighted by a mix of neutral tones that allow the seasonal colour of nature to be in balance with the building's architectural design," says Bugbee. "The interior design establishes that natural design form and colour through the creative patterning of the floors and walls. The banding elements are repeated inside with an overlaying curvilinear layout expressive of nature." The banding and checkered tile pattern of the student washroom facility brings the exterior patterning into the interior space, while feature colour walls bring focus to main spaces, notes Bugbee. The landscape has been designed conceptually to extend the internal gathering spaces to the outside through the use of large glazed apertures onto structured plazas and landscaping areas surrounding the building. The landscape approach for the school provides pockets for socialization and encourages interaction through hard and soft landscape design, says Jonathan Sagi, principal, ground3 inc. landscape architects. "Entry points to the building are clear and feature large plaza areas with opportunities for seating sheltered by tree plantings," says Sagi. "Landscape features, such as berms and demarcate informal play areas provide periphery opportunities for free play, lingering and daydreaming. A signature feature is the landscape courtyard. Contained within the courtyard are planters, some with specific plantings and some that are cultivated by the students. This area serves to complement curriculum and promote interaction and interest in the environment." The main challenges of the project were related to acquiring municipal permits at the start of the project. "We also encountered some varying soil conditions during the initial preparations of the site," says Grant. "Working within an established community is also a challenge to ensure public safety. We recently completed two similar schools for the Calgary School Board, so this type of project was not new to us. The primary difference would be that this school had a significantly larger second-storey section due to the existing elevations of the site and surrounding contours of the land." This project has been an interesting one to be involved with, says Poirier: "The building is one of the more interesting designs I've seen for a school, including the inner courtyard. The inner courtyard posed a challenge with one of our originally intended credits regarding entryway dust control. In the end, the courtyard entrance limited the placement of entryway grills and we weren't able to achieve this credit." With school construction, the focus is not primarily on energy reduction, as occupant comfort is a bigger design concern, notes Poirier. "We have enjoyed the collaborative spirit and leadership of the school board's design and facilities team that has shaped our design," remarks Bugbee. "Good design is always a team effort from all participants involved, including the creativity of the design team and the vision of the education facility leaders and administration. With the neighbourhoods in the forefront, we can design a school that will become a great community building where young minds are inspired to excel academically and work to strengthen our urban environment." A LOCATION 1100 Everridge Drive Southeast, Calgary, Alberta OWNER Calgary Board of Education ARCHITECT Zeidler Architecture GENERAL CONTRACTOR Lear Construction Management Ltd. STRUCTURAL/MECHANICAL/ ELECTRICAL/CIVIL CONSULTANT Williams Engineering LEED CONSULTANT WSP LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT ground 3 inc. landscape architects TOTAL SIZE 105,400 square feet TOTAL COST Undisclosed 11:59 AM 9:32 AM

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