FORTVILLE, Ind.—Structural engineering firm O’Donnell & Naccarato has topped out at the Mt. Vernon School District’s 151,000-square-foot Fortville Elementary School, which will serve nearly 1,000 students in grades K-4 when completed.

The $85 million two-story school will offer a media lab, flexible STEM lab, a dual-purpose cafeteria and the latest tech-enabled learning tools throughout.

O’Donnell & Naccarato is working with Indianapolis-based Ratio Architects on fashioning a steel structural system for the school, which will also feature braces and moment frames for added stability.

The school is due to open for the 2025-2026 school year.

“O&N is proud to partner with our colleagues and the Mt. Vernon School District to deliver this state-of-the-art project on time and within budget,” O&N Principal Tom Miltner said at the topping-out ceremony.  “Students at Fortville Elementary will be equipped with the latest and greatest resources in an innovative space that promotes discovery and growth.”

O’Donnell & Naccarato’s previous structural engineering work for school-related projects in the state includes the McNutt Residence Center at Indiana University.  In addition to Indianapolis, the firm operates from offices in Orlando, Philadelphia, New York and Miami.

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DALLAS—Stantec has been selected to provide integrated design services for the new 122,000-square-foot Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) building at the University of North Texas at Dallas (UNTD). The latest addition to the Dallas campus will reflect the logic, rigor, efficiency, and optimism of scientific learning through an innovative design that is clearly and functionally organized. The groundbreaking ceremony will take place Friday, September 29.

The US$79 million, four-story STEM building will house instructional spaces including general purpose “high-flex” classrooms, instructional labs, research space, and wet labs that adapt to facilitate various classes including biology and chemistry disciplines. Support areas will include an instrumentation room, cold room, and dark-enabled room to conduct research and store materials in optimal conditions. In addition, a café, pre-function area, and 200-250 seat classroom/meeting space is situated on the ground level, with a variety of collaboration spaces throughout the building.

Empowering community through education

UNTD’s state-of-the-art facility will improve the lives of students and their families by recruiting, training, and employing a more diverse workforce. Through STEM education, UNTD will create upward mobility to a community of learners and first-generation college students by encouraging curiosity and engagement in the sciences.

In addition, Stantec is collaborating with HarrisonKornberg Architects, a minority-owned firm certified as a historically underutilized business, as well as with local educational and community institutions to encourage employment opportunities and internships, provide new technology for training, and prepare students for science careers.

Design through sustainability and wellness

With a direct tie to the natural beauty of the campus, the STEM building will be surrounded by meaningful outdoor spaces and provide views of a courtyard, promenade, and amphitheater. Exterior gathering areas will promote water conservation through native, drought-resistant, and indigenous plantings that direct rainwater to a natural creek bed.

The interior design focuses on occupant well-being by embracing biophilia as a connection to nature through highly filtered clean air, locally sourced materials, and natural daylight and views. Building efficiency will be achieved through smart control systems and physical mobility is encouraged through easy access to stairwells.

Creating spaces for STEM

Stantec has steadily helped clients across North America respond to evolving academic and STEM learning, with related projects such as: Yale University Science Building; The University of Texas at Dallas Sciences Building; University of Lethbridge Science Commons (with KPMB Architects); West Chester University Sciences & Engineering Center; Central Michigan University Biosciences Building; Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi Engineering & Life Sciences Research Building; and The University of Texas at Permian Basin School of Engineering Building.

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SAN FRANCISCO—Architecture firm DLR Group and general contractor McCarthy Building Companies have been hired by the San Francisco Unified School District to build a new school in the city’s bustling Mission Bay neighborhood.

The school will encompass 82,000 square feet of educational space on a 2.5-acre parcel of land. The school will eventually be home to 600 preK-5 grade school students, a STEM-focused learning laboratory as well as office space for SFUSD personnel. DLR’s design plan calls for ground-floor learning space that will connect directly to the outdoors to bring learning out of the classroom itself. The second and third floors will feature learning studios as well as collaborative learning spaces and breakout rooms. Meanwhile, the fourth floor will host a learning lab that focuses specifically on guiding high school students to consider potential career options in the STEM fields.

In a recent release from McCarthy, the firm’s vice president, Jack Carter, said that the addition of the new school was necessary as the Mission Bay area of the city has continued its upward swing in development.

“The addition of this vital piece of infrastructure will not only be a cornerstone within Mission Bay but also allows San Francisco Unified School District the opportunity to develop a school from the ground up to provide for today’s and future students,” he said.

Added DLR Group Principal Christopher McGiff-Brown: “The Mission Bay School will become the nucleus of community life within this vibrant neighborhood. Our team’s design solution expresses the joy of learning with dynamic architecture to create a vivid and welcoming campus for all users.”

Construction is scheduled to commence sometime this year, with the school opening its doors in 2025.

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PHOENIX—McCarthy Building Companies is rolling out the metaphorical welcome mat at South Mountain Community College’s new Science Complex. The $13.6 million project is fully built out, with students anticipated to commence instruction there in the spring.

McCarthy’s job was to meld two existing buildings with an entirely ground-up additional structure to create the SMCC Science Complex, which will eventually serve approximately 5,000 students across the STEM fields.

McCarthy renovated nearly 35,000 square feet of space, and the skeletal structure of those two older buildings were incorporated into the frame for the redesigned complex. This allowed the project to move along at a brisker clip and save money at the same time.

The redesigned Science Complex will host a 19,000-square-foot Physical and Life Science building, and offer state-of-the-art laboratories and support space, faculty offices, classrooms and even a modern cadaver lab—which will help the school’s healthcare students to gain practical knowledge.

McCarthy added structural connections between the previously existing Physical Science and Life Science buildings. Additionally, the general contractor relocated the complex’s botanical garden.

In the fall of 2020, McCarthy previously worked with SMCC personnel to commence the school’s Construction Trades Institute, which offers crash courses in carpentry, framing, electrical and plumbing trades.

“McCarthy values STEM education programs and having the opportunity to be part of making this project a reality in South Phoenix is something we’re all very proud of,” Mike Gonzalez, vice president of McCarthy Building Companies Education group, said in a recent statement. “Thanks to the extensive collaboration with SMCC and its program end-users, the designer and our trade partners, we found solutions to challenges, and this remarkable new Science Complex is being delivered earlier than planned to help more SMCC students pursue their dreams.”

Gensler came aboard the SMCC Science Complex redesign as both architect of record and design architect. Gensler’s design incorporated a “forward-thinking” layout as well as a modern look and feel to the complex.

“We are proud to have an impact on the next generation of STEM leaders in our community with the completion of the new Science Complex,” Martha dePlazaola Abbott, principal and managing director at Gensler Phoenix, said of the project. “The design of the new building enhances the on-campus learning experience with high-functioning classroom spaces and adjacent areas to foster connections and collaboration.”

“Our students deserve a space to pursue their dreams of becoming engineers, scientists and medical professionals,” SMCC President Dr. Shari Olson said of the expansion at her campus. “The community in South Phoenix needed this new facility, and we’re bringing it to them with the latest technology and labs to help students pursue their desired careers.”

Subcontractors at the SMCC project included Urban Energy Solutions Inc., S&H Steel, Wholesale Floors, SKF Tile & Stone, Gothic Landscape, Marks Valley Grading and Kinkaid Civil Construction.

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For generations, educational curriculum has been based on the principles of reading, writing, and arithmetic. While these fundamentals remain, the emphasis in recent years has shifted to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) to prepare today’s young learners for high-tech careers. School systems are also focused increasingly on the four C’s – critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity – qualities that shape future contributions to the workplace and society as a whole.

These changes have led schools to adopt an integrated curriculum that moves away from a single instructor focused on a single subject, stationed at the front of the classroom, to a model designed to empower students to discover information on their own through creative problem solving and decision making. This approach, according to Education Week, removes the barriers that limit children and separate learning into content areas.

Clearly, these new styles of teaching and learning require new kinds of spaces to support them. Classroom furniture, for example, must be mobile, flexible, and adaptable to allow and encourage movement throughout the day. Mobility allows students to get up from their chairs, while empowering teachers to adjust the classroom configuration as they move through their daily lesson plans. By moving desks, chairs, tables, power sources, and even walls, teachers now have the flexibility for students to tackle individual assignments, work in small groups, or come together as a class to solve problems, often presented on an interactive white board at the front of the room.

Ancillary furniture (informal furniture and accessories that support a range of postures, including sitting, perching, lounging, and standing) also plays an important role in improving student engagement. Just as it is increasingly seen in office environments to support diverse working styles, ancillary furniture provides students with choices that help them feel more in control, while acknowledging the fact that students have different learning styles. Some prefer to sit by themselves, while others want to work in groups. Some want to sit upright at a traditional desk, while lounging is the preferred posture for others. Walking into a classroom and seeing a variety of comfortable, colorful furniture helps students to feel more engaged and, in turn, makes learning more fun and exciting.

This same approach applies to open spaces, where noise levels and speech privacy are often concerns. To support individuals looking for a quiet place to study or students trying to complete group projects, pods provide privacy and offer another learning option. Sound masking can also be incorporated in open collaboration areas, student hubs, and active learning classrooms to reduce noise transmission.

At the opposite end of the noise spectrum, the school library – traditionally the location for students to quietly immerse themselves in books and periodicals at private carrels or at shared tables where they scribble notes for homework or an upcoming book report – has evolved into a “learning common” where students and teachers at every level can gather and share knowledge. And because everyone learns differently, the library space must offer a variety of ways to use it.

Today’s learning commons should encourage active learning with comfortable and inviting spaces designed to cultivate student engagement and motivation. Students and teachers must be able to choose between different spaces and furnishings to accommodate their current task at hand, whether it requires heads-down focus, collaborative teamwork, or presentations to a group. And they need the flexibility to reconfigure the space or furnishings as their tasks change.

Just as in the classroom, flexible furniture throughout the library space helps students adapt to different group sizes and tasks. Ideally seating should allow for easy mobility for individual versus group work, and to provide different posture options to match a student’s study needs. Walls, white boards, and tables (many of which have built-in media screens and height-adjustable legs) must also be moveable to enable privacy and offer a choice of working with analog or digital tools.

Beyond flexible learning spaces, the integration of technology obviously plays a pivotal role in keeping students and teachers connected with each other and their peers. When applied properly, technology (computers, mobile devices, digital displays, etc.) can complement the curriculum by assisting students as they gather information and share content. Utilizing intuitive AV equipment, teachers can take advantage of video and audio conference systems to supplement instruction with recorded lessons and demonstrations. These collaborative tools also facilitate viewing a specific lesson multiple times or at a later time, encouraging students to become self-directed learners.

But what is technology without power? Distributing power throughout a space and providing all users with equal access to keep their devices connected is crucial in keeping students engaged. When students don’t have to search for a power source when they see the dying red battery symbol on their devices, they’re better able to stay focused on the lessons at hand. Whether it’s integrated Thread power solutions or Flex mobile power units that students can take with them, providing users with access to power encourages them to study and learn for longer periods.

Whole communities benefit from making schools, classrooms, and libraries more active and better connected. By investing in today’s students and giving them spaces that are better equipped for active learning, we can ensure that the academic and corporate sectors of our society advance in parallel, ultimately building a better workforce for the future.

Maureen Tracy is an Account Executive at dancker (www.dancker.com), a leading interior solutions company that fully integrates architectural, furniture, and technology solutions as a one-source provider and logistics manager for corporate, education and healthcare facilities.

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ORANGE, Calif.—C.W. Driver Companies has completed work on the three-story Swenson Family Hall of Engineering at Chapman University, located in Orange.  The building is named after engineer Jim Swenson and his Swenson Family Foundation, which donated $5 million to Chapman University, and Swenson Hall will house Chapman’s Dale E. and Sarah Ann Fowler School of Engineering.

Work at the site entailed a 31,000-square-foot buildout of interior space within the extant 49,697-square-foot Keck Center for Science and Engineering, which was constructed by C.W. Driver in 2018 as the permanent home for the Schmid College of Science and Technology and Fowler School of Engineering.  Swenson Hall increases Chapman’s focus on the STEM fields—and is meant to foster a sense of interdisciplinary collaboration, as students at Swenson Hall will work together on problems facing not just Southern California specifically but the globe more generally.

Over its trio of levels, the Swenson Family Hall of Engineering entails laboratories for both teaching and research, a robotics lab, collaborative spaces, dean’s suite as well as dedicated faculty space.  The building also features meeting areas and dedicated workspaces.

The design by architecture firm AC Martin Partners, Inc. entails a grand stairwell that connects the uppermost two floors and is thus meant to foster conversation and collaboration outside of the classrooms in an open space.  Meanwhile, the bottommost level is connected via an “ideation path” with other facilities of the Keck Center for Science and Engineering.

C.W. Driver Companies worked in conjunction with Chapman University’s Campus Planning Department on the project.

“The opening of the Keck Center’s science wing in 2018 signaled a tremendous step forward in the STEM fields at Chapman University,” Collette Creppell, vice president of campus planning and design at Chapman University, said in a recent statement. “Thanks to the valuable expertise of C.W. Driver Companies in building the Swenson Family Hall of Engineering, our new Fowler School of Engineering has a place to call its own.”

Added Aimee Siemianowski, project executive at C.W. Driver Companies: “We were honored to partner with Chapman University in constructing a both beautiful and highly functional hall for its newest academic program, the Fowler School of Engineering.  Our long history of constructing higher education and research facilities for Chapman University and colleges across the state enabled us to deliver a cutting-edge facility designed to foster collaboration, reconfiguration and blur the lines between teaching and education.”

C.W. Driver has also worked on numerous other educational projects in the Golden State including at the University of California, Santa Barbara; Biola University; Loyola Marymount University; California State University Dominguez Hills; and Orange Coast College.

“The facility will be paramount to attracting high-quality faculty and talented students pursuing undergraduate and graduate-level study of engineering, which in turn will help meet the growing demands of the California economy,” said Creppell of Chapman about the new facility.

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Driven by new paradigms in curriculum delivery and promising new research on what helps young learners excel, the early childhood classroom environment is changing.

This change is rapid and far from uniform. There is no single prototype or solution that fits every classroom. Each school and district have a unique set of students, teachers, and parents with their own goals and objectives. We must involve all stakeholders in discovering what best fits their needs as layout and instructional space is developed — mixing ideas and strategies for engagement.

Broadly speaking, we can pinpoint a few trends emerging that support exceptional early child learning.  Spatial flexibility is key in a time of dynamic pedagogy, while choice and discovery are important for children’s social, intellectual, and emotional growth. The availability and appropriate use of technology must be woven into this new environment. But with screen time a concern, we must look for designs that inspire rather than overstimulate.

Personalization

The ideal classroom encourages student choice of “where and how to learn.” This personalization of spatial identity supports student creativity, innovation, and socialization. Early evidence collected by RAND Corporation, researchers for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, found “that personalized learning (PL) can improve achievement for all students, regardless of their starting level of achievement, and students who are able to personalize their space perform better.”

Flexible spaces and technology play important roles in supporting this personalization. A 2016 report, commissioned by the Ministry of Education in New Zealand, researched the connection of overall facility quality and design and its impact on student outcomes.  They found that “flexible learning environments imply that the school adapts the use of resources such as staff, space, and time to best support personalization.”

Flexible Spaces

Schools have different pedagogical methods and instructional styles which require flexibility in furniture arrangement, equipment portability, classroom size, and classroom layout. In lieu of the traditional “rows of desks” and “sit and get” instruction, students thrive on a variety of learning activities. By not limiting a classroom to the traditional four walls, a larger and more flexible classroom environment can offer many more opportunities for instruction, spaces for groups of different sizes, and areas for independent or collaborative work.

The increased transparency of a larger instructional space fosters more collaboration between teachers, a shared responsibility for all students, and encourages higher performance. At Richard J. Lee Elementary School in Coppell, Texas, even the Kinder areas take advantage of shared spaces in and out of the classroom that are designed to serve a variety of learners, learning styles, and activities.

In addition to classroom layout qualities, the New Zealand study identified four core technical features within flexible learning spaces and their direct impact on student outcomes. They found that higher quality buildings and facilities are linked to better student achievement and engagement outcomes with students feeling happier and feel more valued.

1. Acoustics: Quality acoustics temper distracting excess noise and lead to calmer environments where students can better interact with each other and the teaching staff.
2. Lighting: Natural light is best, but windows must be thoughtfully designed to limit visual distractions, prevent impairing glare during instruction, and minimize solar heat gain.
3. Ventilation: Better indoor air quality (IAQ) and minimizing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) has shown to reduce health-related issues, such as asthma or allergic reactions, which directly affects absenteeism or distraction in class.
4. Heating and cooling: Teachers need the ability to control temperatures of the classroom to complement various activities and the overall comfort of the room.

Overstimulation

The visual environment of the classroom was studied by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University to understand children’s ability to maintain a focused attention during instruction. They found that “the students in a highly decorated classroom spent more time off-task (38.6% time spent off-task) than in a more-sparse classroom (28.4% time spent off-task).” An over-designed space and overstimulating environment can flood a child’s day with too many experiences, sensations, and activities –negatively impacting student achievement.

Technology distraction in early child classrooms is heavily debated by educators and parents today. When it comes to screen time, experts recommend a limit of one hour a day of high-quality programming for children two to five years of age. The Mayo Clinic says “unstructured playtime is more valuable for a young child’s developing brain than is electronic media.” But with the next generation of parents, likely to be more digitally savvy, we will  see a shift toward more screen time. We need to be cautious about how we enrich instructional spaces and carefully consider which additions, both technological and environmental, might be too distracting to early learners.

Technology

It was just 10 years ago when the first tablet was introduced. Fast forward to current day and technology has become a staple in most learning environments. But how much technology is appropriate for early learners?

When our team was designing Prestwick STEM Academy in The Colony, Texas, placement of technology was an important and collaborative discussion. Solutions varied by age group. In the kindergarten areas, TVs and computers were not the focus within the classroom environment. Finding the correct balance of technology was key. It did not want to be too overwhelming and dominating within the space but the technology still needed to be readily accessible to students.

How we look at technology in classrooms will evolve. Over the next decade, early child and pre-k classrooms will be occupied by children whose parents are “digital natives.”  These future parents, born after 1997, will have new expectations for technology integration in the classroom. A greater variety of technological mediums, some yet to be invented, could become more essential for enhanced learning and increased engagement for tomorrow’s students.

Michael Lovaglio, AIA, RID, NCARB, is a principal with Stantec.

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CARSON, Calif.—C.W. Driver Companies recently completed construction on California State University, Dominguez Hills’ (CSUDH) new $71.5 million Science & Innovation Building. The 87,000-square-foot facility features state-of-the-art laboratories, faculty offices and classrooms that will help prepare the university’s students for careers in science, technology engineering and math (STEM).

“It was a pleasure partnering with CSU Dominguez Hills to bring their vision of a modern science and innovation facility to life,” said Tom Jones, project executive at C.W. Driver Companies. “Minimizing impact to current students and staff was a high priority for us, and we used acoustic sound blankets, among other measures, to ensure the project stayed on schedule without disrupting the rest of the campus.”

The façade features alternating blue and gray colored panels meant to convey a decoded DNA strand, while bamboo wood and metal panels line the interior. To accommodate the facility’s science and technology uses, C.W. Driver Companies installed sophisticated mechanical and plumbing systems, including special supply and return air ducting, more than 60 fume hoods and extensive laboratory waste disposal systems. Electrical systems line every classroom, consisting of medium and low voltage utilities, data ports, and substantial audio-visual features.

Toyota USA Foundation provided a $4 million grant to CSU Dominguez Hills that was used in part to fund the project. In recognition of this generous grant, the Toyota Center for Innovation in STEM Education was established in the building. The Toyota Center features a fabrication lab, spaces for K-12 teaching demonstrations and training, SMART classrooms, collaborative workstations and an outdoor workspace.

The Science and Innovation Building was designed to achieve LEED® Platinum Certification. C.W. Driver utilized regional and recycled materials such as limestone plaster, an aluminum composite panel rain screen system, energy efficient storefront windows and curtain walls as well as exterior shading devices to enhance energy efficiency.

“Our science and technology faculty couldn’t be happier with the end result of this project and the level of detail that the C.W. Driver team put in to fit the specialized needs of our curriculum,” said Roshni Thomas, director of facilities planning, design and construction at CSUDH. “We are confident that the Science and Innovation Building will enhance our capacity to better serve faculty, students and the community at large for years to come.”

C.W. Driver Companies worked alongside HGA Architects & Engineers on the project. Along with Jones, Sam Huleis, senior project manager; Megan Morrissey, assistant project manager; Rich Sadowski, senior superintendent; Koty Maywhort, assistant superintendent; Nick Dispenza, assistant superintendent; Jonathan Muller, senior project engineer; Diana Fraire, project engineer and Mark Vondran, chief estimator, headed up the C.W. Driver team.

Additional science and technology facilities from the builder include Chapman University’s Keck Center for Science and Engineering, Loyola Marymount University’s Life Sciences Building and Biola University’s Center for Science, Technology & Health.

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QUINCY, Mass.— Calling it a “building of hope,” city leaders in Quincy celebrated the completion of its newest school, the South-West Middle School, a $58 million 96,000-square-foot facility that will usher in the next generation of learning. BOND, the Northeast’s premier building, civil, utility and energy construction firm, built the new school on time and on budget and celebrated the milestone alongside community members, students and school officials.

During the course of the two-year project, BOND developed phasing and logistic plans, constructability analyses, proposed value engineering alternatives to maintain the project budget, and then constructed the new building just a few feet away from the Sterling Middle School, the occupied building being replaced.

“We’re extremely proud of this important milestone at South-West Middle School,” said Frank Hayes, COO and President of BOND’s Building Division. “The complexity of this type of building working alongside a fully-occupied school allowed us to think strategically at every step of the project.”

South-West Middle School features collaborative learning spaces, a media center, gymnasium, music and art rooms, administrative offices, a café and an auditorium. The state-of-the-art learning facility is complete with STEM circulation zones that encourage project-based learning, an open floor plan and glass walls to create a synergetic environment.

New safety enhancements were built into the facility including glass walls electrified with a film that turns the glass opaque with the flip of a switch – making it impossible to see who is inside the classroom – an added safety measure in the event of a lockdown.

“Building off the growing trend of innovative and modernized schools, the light-filled spaces and technology-rich classrooms allow this new building to facilitate a high-quality of student engagement for the next generation of learning,” said Robert Murray, BOND President.

“We love to build these facilities, because we really see what happens in them,” said Ken Johnson, VP Education, BOND. “The speed, the new way that teachers are going to be able to teach, the opportunities for them to create, I think is tremendous. It gives us a great deal of satisfaction to be able to contribute to that, and to know that we’ve helped make a difference in these students’ lives and in the community.”

Since 1907, BOND has managed many of the Northeast’s most complex construction projects. BOND operates as a construction manager for academic, healthcare and life science clients and a self-performing general contractor for the power and energy industry.

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PHOENIX, Ariz.—Construction has begun on the new Balsz School District’s Pat Tillman Middle School, a middle school bearing the name of one of Arizona’s and the nation’s most notable and revered American heroes.

Named after the decorated American hero, who left a successful professional football career with the Arizona Cardinals to serve his country following 9/11, the nearly 70,000-square-foot middle will comprise 42 new classrooms, administrative offices, STEM learning flex space and two new laboratories to support student centered and authentic learning for students in the Balsz School District.

In addition, a new sports tunnel will be constructed, celebrating and connecting the sports fields to the school. Sitework will include the build-out of both sports and community fields with perimeter security that allows for safe and secure student and community access. The building also incorporates energy efficiency upgrades to allow the school to be more operationally efficient over time.

“Our vision for Pat Tillman Middle School is to create the finest learning environment in the Valley, one that truly honors the Tillman legacy,” said Dr. Jeffrey Smith, superintendent of the Balsz School District.

“Pat embodied everything it is that we want to instill in our students—bravery, patriotism, commitment, selflessness—and these fundamentals will very much be a part of the core culture at Tillman Middle School.”

Located at 4309 E. Belleview in Phoenix, the school offers a traditional academic curriculum with expansive elective, after-school and sports offerings. The school will remain open for the 2019-20 school year, while construction is underway, and continue to serve the current student population of approximately 720 students in grades 6 to 8.

The school’s robust elective offerings include an Elite Sports Training pathway, a STEM program focusing on coding, rocketry and robotics, and a Digital Arts program that exposes students to video production, multimedia design and computer graphics. Students at the school will also benefit from the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) initiative, which seeks to bridge the achievement gap between economically disadvantaged students and their peers.

Construction will be completed in time for the 2020 school year. Final construction completion, which includes all site work and miscellaneous upgrades to existing structures, is slated for October 2020.

DLR Group is providing integrated architecture and engineering services. McCarthy Building Companies is the general contractor and providing construction management services.

“It’s been a privilege to work with the Tillman school community on this major renovation of their school campus, which will enhance the educational and STEM learning experience for current and future students,” said Mike Horn, project director for the Education Services team at McCarthy.

“We look forward to bringing these highly-anticipated and significant changes to the campus over the next year and are particularly honored to be part of acknowledging Pat Tillman for his service to our country and his athletic achievements as the namesake of the school.”

Added Pam Loeffelman, FAIA, DLR Group, “We are honored to provide a new home for Tillman Middle School. The entire team of educators, administrators, architects, engineers, contractors, students and the community at large worked collaboratively to co-design a school that enables teachers and students to aspire to the Tillman spirit and embraces the community where it resides.”

Originally built and opened as Balsz Elementary School in 1964, the Tillman family granted Balsz School District permission to use the Tillman name in early 2018. The school, home of the Warriors, is located only a few blocks from Arizona State University’s Sun Devil Stadium, where Tillman first made headlines on the football field.

Tillman was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004 at the age of 27.

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