YUMA, Ariz. — Yuma Union High School District students, staff, and community members recently gathered to celebrate the opening of the Kofa High School campus. DLR Group’s design transforms the once sprawling, unorganized site into a cohesive high school campus serving 2,000 students in grades 9-12.

The $12 million project was funded by a 2015 voter-approved bond passage. Arcadis served as project manager and McCarthy Building Companies served as general contractor.

According to Turner, an international construction services company, the two phases of the Kofa High School renovations project included 177,000 square feet of upgrades to the gymnasium, cafeteria, classrooms, bus and visitor/staff parking areas. Work also included enhancements to campus security and information technology resources.

The new campus features updated academic classrooms and labs with abundant technology, and flexible collaboration areas that allow students to work in small or large groups. The reimagined student hub now encompasses dining, socializing, and student services in a central location. The student hub has a new culinary arts classroom and restaurant providing enhanced dining options for students, educators, and community members. In addition, it also houses the campus bookstore, student-run store, and IT support center.

“The conversion of the original Kofa cafeteria into a new dynamic hub is one of the most dramatic changes in this renovation,” said DLR Group Principal Carmen Wyckoff, AIA. “Our design unifies the campus aesthetically and provides future-ready environments that celebrate academics, athletics, and the whole student experience.”

DLR Group’s design frames an active zone south of the student hub, creating synergies between career and technical education (CTE) courses such as personal training, athletics, nursing, physical education, and health classes. Spaces in the active zone serve dual purposes: the wrestling room is also used for police take-down training, the strength training area is utilized by students enrolled in the physical therapy certification program, and the nursing program shares spaces with the EMT certification program.

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SAINT JOSEPH, Mo. — Missouri Western State University (MWSU) is currently in the process of renovating Potter Hall, the home of its School of Fine Arts, with a proposal from a local firm that will include renovations and new additions to the existing 1970s-era facility.

The Missouri General Assembly appropriated $150,000 for architectural services for the Potter Hall project with the stipulation that MWSU match the funding. The match in funding comes from the school’s Centennial Capital Campaign and was used to hire Patterhn Ives, LLC in December 2016 to provide planning and design services and a vision for the future of Potter Hall. Other collaborators on the project include McClure Engineering (MEPFT), Alper Audi (Structural), Kirkegaard Associates (Acoustics), Schuler Shook (Stage/Lighting), and Civil Design Inc. (Civil).

“Our approach embraces both formal and informal learning through a series of courtyards that host flexible teaching environments for both their visual and performing arts programs,” said Eric R. Hoffman, AIA, partner with Patterhn Ives, LLC. “Conceived to elevate visitor and academic experience alike, the project creates a sense of arrival while drawing new connections to the larger university. We hope this new project furthers their long-standing impact and the legacy of the School of Fine Arts.”

The team at Patterhn Ives proposed two new additions to Potter Hall: one dedicated to performing arts called “the Addition,” and one to the visual arts called “the Annex.” The performing arts addition would house a 3,000 square-foot instrumental rehearsal studio and an 80-seat flexible theater. The visual arts annex would house sculpture and ceramics studios. The plans also include three courtyards: the Fine Arts Entry Courtyard, the Campus Courtyard and the Sculpture Courtyard. A glass-enclosed Entry Gallery that links the existing building to the new addition will feature additional space for displays and collections.

The facility’s visual arts annex recently earned the 2018 AIA St. Louis Unbuilt Merit Design Award.

“This minimalist proposal, if executed with equal precision, will be a great place for artists to work,” said Annabelle Selldorf, FAIA, a 2018 AIA St. Louis Design Awards jury member.

The annex is designed to accommodate flexible studios and classrooms for the visual arts program with an emphasis in three-dimensional, analog work. As an early step of the campus master plan, the proposed annex alleviates multiple issues from within the existing building by providing dedicated, adaptable studios and flexible teaching environments with appropriate ventilation systems and infrastructure.

Renovations of existing spaces within Potter Hall include:

Choral Hall and Cinema Classroom: The construction of an instrumental rehearsal hall will allow the current spaces to be re-purposed as a choral hall and a cinema screening classroom.

1. Art Gallery and Student Lounge: The work of students, faculty and visiting artists will be displayed in a secure exhibition gallery to be located in the center of the building. The student-learning lounge will be a new space dedicated to academic development and peer interaction. Students from all fine arts departments and disciplines can access computers and learn in a relaxed, comfortable environment.
2. Second Floor: The second floor will include renovated studios for Digital Animation, Printmaking and Painting. Additional updates will allow for a classroom and more faculty offices.

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“We’re looking at (saving) over $100,000 in fuel costs annually,” said AVCSD Superintendent Paul Savage. “That’s considerable, and that’s conservative. As we go forward, we’ll learn more about where we’re at. That’s something that is a definite win for our school and community here.”

AuSable Valley Middle School/High School recently installed a wood chip gasification system as its primary source of heating. Keeseville Elementary School was the first school in the district to install a biomass boiler. Only four other school districts in the state operate with biomass facilities.

Oil-burning boilers and furnaces are typical in North Country schools but according to Savage the new biomass facility looks not only to save money but also to function as an emergency center during natural disasters and power outages.

“We know in the North Country that we run into things like we did this year with the flooding, the ice jams,” Savage said. “We’ll run our facilities full-speed and make sure that we have our communities taken care of.”

There are a total of three biomass boilers — two located at the Middle/High School and the other one located at Keeseville Elementary School. The cost of each boiler is $2.5 million.

The project is part of a $29.85 million capital project that the district voters passed in 2007. State money will contribute 98 percent and the other two percent, $1,032,697, will be paid for by Excel state grants.

ChipTec Wood Energy Systems, based in Williston, Vt., built the biomass facility. The company also built a similar facility near Hartford, Conn. Greg Atkins of Greg Atkins Trucking and Logging in Keeseville supplies the wood chips.

According to ChipTec Project Manager Josh Mandell, a biomass heating system is considered clean, green and renewable. It’s also cost effective for the school.

“It’s cheaper,” Mandell said. “That’s probably the biggest thing of all. With the unstable oil prices over the last decades, it becomes more sensible for schools to have that stability. You don’t see the rise and fall in wood prices; you don’t see that as you would in oil.”

The system works by transferring the wood chips to a “gasifer” where they are then cooked in a low-oxygen environment in temperatures ranging from 1,200 to 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit, according to a district pamphlet. From there, the wood is converted into gas in the broiler. The heat produced in the boiler is then transferred to the school’s hydronic (water and steam) system. The heated water is then pumped through the school’s existing heating system.

According to Savage, wood that isn’t converted to gas becomes ash. “The small amount of ash that does come from this can be used in farming and agricultural use,” he said.

The amount of wood chips used by the facility depends on how much heat needs to be generated. Mandell estimates that about 2,000 pounds of wood chips would burn per hour on an average winter day.

Given the cold winters and the extensive logging industry in North Country, along with the fuel savings, the district is already thinking about expanding biomass facilities in the future.

“Janet and I are pushing NYSERDA (the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority) to come up with a grant program to give 100 percent grant money for schools to convert to bio-fuel. If we can get our schools to convert to bio-fuel and save money and prove that it works real well, then our industries will start using it,” said New York State Assemblywoman Teresa Sayward, alongside fellow Assemblywoman Janet Duprey.

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