The school district emphasized open, flexible learning space for students including sliding glass partitions between classrooms to allow for collaboration and flexibility. Outdoor learning spaces were incorporated throughout and built for accessibility. Glass garage doors open up to the outdoors from the robotics center, lunch area and art classroom. A performance space doubles as a storm center, and a media center and broadcasting room support learning. The district planned for potential gender-neutral bathrooms in the future by installing individual bathroom compartments with sinks located outside.
Security was a high priority in the new build. Entry into the middle school is only accessible through the reception area. An innovative, complex emergency response security system called Blue Light is located throughout the building and provides teachers and administrative staff the ability to secretly activate security measures. The measure includes automatic blind closures, automatic emergency response paging system, and activated lights by hidden buttons.
The McCownGordon team was actively involved throughout the entirety of the construction process providing solutions to ensure the project finished on schedule. During the preconstruction phase, our team overcame a 30% budgetary challenge. Even with construction delays inching up to four months, our team finished the project on schedule and on budget.