VIRGINIA, Minn.—General contractor Kraus-Anderson Duluth and designer Cuningham Group Architecture, Inc. are finishing up work for the Rock Ridge District’s medical education program.  In conjunction with Orthopaedic Associates, the 7,500-square-foot expansion will allow high school students to learn alongside medical professionals in a clinical setting.

The $2 million educational facility will be home to a working medical clinic, x-ray suite, physical therapy gym as well as an orthopedic medical clinic.  The high school students from Rock Ridge will effectively shadow working doctors and nurses to become more familiar with the various tools and terms of the medical trade—while gaining valuable experience that could come in handy in eventual professional settings.

District Superintendent Noel Schmidt said that the unique partnership between Rock Ridge and Orthopaedic Associates fashions a unique school-to-career pipeline for students in the school’s career and technical education (CTE) program.

“The CTE program will offer educational programming, workshops and job shadowing that will give students a chance to explore healthcare careers, of which there are plenty in the area,” Schmidt said.

In a subsequent statement to School Construction News, Jocy Teske, Cuningham Group Architecture’s senior certified project interior designer, said that the architect needed to focus on adequate patient and staff parking as well as “visibility” of the clinic’s entrance and access to building services shared with the school itself.

“An interior corridor allows building service support without disruption to separate entrances for clinic and physical therapy gym operations,” Teske said.  “The central nurse station with dictation suites is surrounded by exam rooms for ease of access by patient and staff.  Structural support for large X-ray equipment, unique construction for building occupant safety, and mechanical enhancements for occupant comfort were required.”

Morgan Seopa, Kraus-Anderson’s project manager, said that the owner worked with the designers to replicate a similar clinical setting that Orthopaedic Associates already operates in the town of Hibbing.  That way the educational facility would closely mirror an operational healthcare setting.

“This is a short-duration project, [so getting] all the materials on site was probably the biggest” issue that Kraus-Anderson faced, Seopa said in a phone interview with School Construction News.  “It was an interior build, so we didn’t have a lot of environmental challenges or anything like that.  It was mostly just getting things going.”

She added that students will be able to walk across a shared parking lot to the CTE building.  This will increase familiarity with the services on offer when it comes time for the students to move into the clinical training side.

“And then also, if they do have an interest in that type of field for a career, they’re able to utilize that space as well,” Seopa said.  “It’s tough to fill these positions, so any positive encouragement is a great thing.”

Construction work at Rock Ridge commenced in January and is due to be complete in September.

The post Minnesota School Expands High School Medical Education appeared first on School Construction News.

VIRGINIA, Minn.—Construction manager Kraus-Anderson’s Duluth office has successfully delivered the new Rock Ridge Career Academy High School for the Rock Ridge Public Schools. The $190 million project, which commenced construction in August 2020, also entailed demolition of prior buildings that stood on the site in the town of Virginia, Minn.

The physical Rock Ridge Academy itself, which cost $122 million, encompasses 280,000 square feet of educational space designed to help students train for potential future careers. The school is partnering with local businesses and other organizations to expose students to career options, and programs offered onsite include business management, health and human services, agriculture, engineering, and sciences.

Kraus-Anderson worked with designers Cuningham Group Architecture and local designer DSGW Architects to maximize the amount of natural light for the school’s interior. The design aesthetic features an open main commons, laboratories, as well as rooms for courses in carpentry, automotive, nursing and culinary arts. The school also features a modern gymnasium, pool and performing arts center. Local timber was used in the construction.

Outdoors, the academy will host five athletic fields and a new stadium featuring a press box, grandstands and a running track.

In a recent phone conversation, Kraus-Anderson project manager Paul Noll said that due to the 30-month construction timeline, his firm had to not only deal with covid-19 protocols, but also issues with the supply chain.

“We made all sorts of extra storage room available…to accept delivery of materials earlier than we typically would during a construction process to allow for those months and months and months of delays that other projects were experiencing,” Noll said. “That’s not something we would typically do on a project, but it worked fantastically on this job.”

Taking this path allowed KA to complete the construction of the academy on schedule. And being flexible was crucial at the jobsite as the team awaited certain materials to show up.

Rock Ridge Academy is the only school north of the Twin Cities devoted specifically to career training. Noll calls such an educational model “revolutionary” in this far northern area of the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Furthermore, it will be important to have an educated technical workforce on hand in the area, rather than having them flee to the big cities.

“The region is very community-focused and family-focused, and there are a lot of different opportunities that the career academy highlights that show students there are many different pathways they can take forward in their life that will lead to success,” said Noll.

At a recent celebration for the academy’s opening, Dr. Noel Schmidt, superintendent of Rock Ridge Public Schools, echoed what Noll said about the need to keep talented people within the community.

“Rock Ridge High School…was specifically designed for both direct instruction and project-based learning to flourish as teaching and learning tools in a career academy structure for all students,” Schmidt said. “It is no hyperbole to say that the community, teachers, and students can be proud of this extraordinary high school which will be the envy of many districts throughout the State of Minnesota and United States. It is that unique.”

The post Kraus-Anderson Wraps Build on Minnesota Academy appeared first on School Construction News.

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. — The Hayden School District is nearing completion on a design for its new prekindergarten through 12th-grade campus.

Denver-based Cuningham Group Architecture recently unveiled a schematic design for the new facility despite the project currently being in the conceptual phase.

The Design Advisory Group, a group of 19 community members and educators, have been meeting since July 2018 to gather input from administrators, board members, teachers, students and residents.

The majority of the consulting, design, surveying and construction team has been selected while the district is currently in the process of acquiring an abatement contractor.

The district received a $38.8 million BEST grant in May from the Colorado Department of Education, which will help support the $61 million project.

Architect Kali-elin Mock explained that creating a “prominent and welcoming entry” was a key component of the design. In addition to this, indoor and outdoor gathering spaces for the entire school, including a courtyard, were also prioritized by the advisory group.

The campus is being designed so it can be easily utilized and accessed for various community purposes, said owners representative Colleen Kaneda.

Plans call for construction of a new football field and track and two gymnasiums, giving the district a total of three including the existing small elementary gym. One will also function as an auditorium.

According to Mock, the BEST grant specifies the new facility to accommodate only for the district’s current enrollment of 439. However, she said the advisory group is thoughtfully designing the new school around flexibility to allow for the possibility of expansion in the future.

Some of the biggest challenges include the site’s expansive soil and the space limitations set by the hillside.

Currently, the future of the old middle school and high school isn’t certain, however, the BEST grant orders the demolition of the building, unless another entity decides to purchase it.

The district has planned spring 2019 to begin the groundbreaking and aims to have the project completed before the school year starts in 2020.

Reports from Steamboat Pilot & Today contributed to this story.

The post Cuningham Group Unveils Schematic Design for New Colorado School appeared first on School Construction News.