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First draft nearly triples size of elementary school
The first draft of McCook Public Schools' new single-site elementary school adds 43,000 square feet of new construction between North Ward's existing gym and West Q Street on the north.
The addition will almost triple the size of the existing 17,000-square-foot facility, and will house all of the public schools' preschool through third grade students.
The rough draft was unveiled Tuesday before members of the school board's facilities committee.
Daniel Spiry, an architect with Bahr Vermeer Haecker Architects of Lincoln, selected by the board to design the voter-approved new elementary, said his firm looked at two organizational concepts when designing the rough draft of the new facility. The first concept, he said, was a "town square," in which everything is organized around a central commons area. The second is a "main street," or "mall" concept, which is all very linear.
"We went back to the 'town square,' " Spiry said, "because it provides the best sense of community for the students."
The public areas are in the center of the building, and the classroom wings are north and south. The wings can be closed off when public functions are planned in the commons area and/or the gym.
"There is no confusion about where the main entrance is, where the office is and where the public areas are," Spiry said.
Immediately inside the front entrance is the secretary's office and administrative offices. That location provides eyesight to the front entry, the sidewalk, the street and the commons area.
The design balances the students, too, Spiry said, with the noisier preschool (to be located in the existing kindergarten classroom), kindergarten and first grades in the south wing, separated from the quieter second and third grades in the north wing.
The main entry is designed as the entry for the second and third graders. Preschoolers, kindergartners and first graders will enter on the south.
The design includes restricted parking for buses and school vans on the south half of the block on West Third. Traffic on the street would not have to stop if the buses and vans are stopped in areas restricted for bus loading and unloading.
Parent drop-off and pick-up will ideally be on the south for preschool-K-1 (the horseshoe drive-in will be eliminated), and on the northern half of the block on West Third and along West Q for older students.
Recessed areas and curb cuts designed for loading and unloading will keep stopped vehicles off the streets and improve neighborhood traffic flow.
Spiry said loading and unloading areas will encourage a clockwise movement around the school block.
For staff members, the design provides an off-street side-by-side parking lot for 40-some cars at the northwest doors and off-street angle parking stalls for 10-or-so on West O.
The design presented by architects to the school board's facilities committee Tuesday evening shows five classrooms per grade level. However, facilities committee members asked for six classrooms per grade, so architects will have to relocate some special education classes and add additional classrooms in the new construction.
The final design will most likely retain the existing 800-square-foot classrooms on the south, and create 900-square-foot classrooms in the new construction. To create 900-square-foot classrooms on the south would require moving existing walls, cabinets, marker boards, closets and electrical and plumbing services.
Radiators in the existing classrooms will most likely be eliminated in the renovation, and ceilings in the existing wing will be replaced to provide new lighting and air conditioning.
The new 2,000-square-foot commons area will double as the dining area and will seat 200 at tables, or between 400 and 500 on chairs.
Around the commons area are the full-preparation kitchen and serving area, and music room with a movable solid wall and stage area onto the commons area.
The existing kitchen/serving and teacher lounge area will be demolished.
The existing auditorium will become the library-media center, and the gym's existing north windows will look onto the commons area. The existing main entry hallway will become a conference room off the library-media center and its existing wall of windows will look out onto the east lawn.
Spiry said architects have had to work with the natural lay of the land, and have incorporated stairs and ramps as needed.
The 65-by-100-foot gymnasium, or multi-purpose room, in the draft can be built as is designed, or it can be made larger or smaller, Spiry said. As it is designed, it is the size of a regulation basketball court and can accommodate two simultaneous gym classes, he said.
Seating/bleachers can be accommodated, he said.
As designed, the gym has a resilient floor for physical education classes, not a wooden floor for court games and practice.
The gym is isolated acoustically from the remainder of the building, Spiry said.
The three existing modular classrooms will be needed as classrooms during construction, and will most likely be relocated to the front lawn of the school during construction.
School board members have not determined the fate of the modulars following construction, but they will not be needed for classroom space at the new expanded/renovated elementary facility.
Today, architects will refine their rough draft, and work with engineers to investigate options for electrical, mechanical and plumbing systems and air conditioning.
BVH architects and representatives of the construction manager company, Sampson Construction, plan another facilities committee meeting Thursday, at 5 p.m., in the conference room at the junior high.