Music Fills the Halls at High School

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. — Garden City High School recently celebrated the completion of its $10.5 million expansion and renovation project. Those working on the New York high school project gathered for a ribbon cutting and time capsule ceremony, marking the completion and opening of the new space.

The Garden City Union Free School District and Board of Education, political and community leaders and representatives from Patchogue, N.Y.-based architecture firm BBS Architects, as well as landscape architects and engineers, and construction manager, T.G. Nickel and Associates. Structural engineer Ysrael A. Seinuk, P.C. also served on the project.

The expansion and renovation added more classroom space and performance space for the music department as well as general education. The project consisted of the construction of the new 10,350-square-foot music wing as well as a one-story addition that houses the band, chorus, orchestra and practice room, as well as office space for the school’s music teachers.

The improvement of the school also included energy-efficient upgrades, which students recognized during the time capsule ceremony by burying outdated energy uses included incandescent light bulbs. As students, project team members and the community said “goodbye” to the remnants of the past they also welcomed in the sustainable design of the future.

“The expansion and renovation has significantly improved the quality of the music and general education facilities within the Garden City High School. The renovated interiors feature a convenient and efficient layout, which improved circulation within the school,” said Roger P. Smith, AIA, LEEP AP, BBS president and lead architect on the project. “BBS incorporated a high number of environmentally responsible design solutions into the new building and interiors, including low VOC materials and paints, high-efficiency HVAC equipment and recycled flooring materials.”

The improvements were financed through a $36.5 million construction bond approved by local voters in a referendum held in October 2009. The school was one of few projects that were approved at the time.

Prior to the project, the band and other music program students shared the school’s stage for practices, which limited rehearsal time and use of the auditorium for other activities. As a result of the expansion, the new spaces feature Kinetics Noise Control fabric-wrapped acoustic ceiling panels, which were custom designed for each room to provide the appropriate sound quality and range for each discipline, according to BBS Architects.

“The most significant challenge during the expansion was the location of the new music wing,” said Gary Schiede, project manager for BBS. “The site’s layout was constrained by surrounding buildings and provided a limited access during construction. The project team devised logistical solutions to address these challenges, including detailed staging of construction activities and advanced planning of materials delivery and storage.”