Construction at SJHS to finish before December; designers praised
After 65 days of weather delays, construction at South Junior High should wrap up by the end of the month. And while construction crews scurry to get the job done, the school's designer's are soaking up praise. Enlarge video
Open Interior halls, flexible classrooms and other design components of the new South Junior High School, 2734 La., are winning positive reviews - both from the school's principal and a jury of architects reviewing the school's design plans on behalf of the Kansas chapter of the American Institute of Architects. The design, by the Lawrence office of Gould Evans, received a Citation Award in the chapter's Annual Design Awards.
The new South Junior High School opened later than expected, cost $1 million less than anticipated and now is being hailed by demanding professionals as a design to be appreciated.
The Lawrence office of Gould Evans is the winner of a Citation Award for Unbuilt Architecture from the Kansas chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
The award ranks the project among the best architectural designs in the state for the past year.
Steve Clark, a Gould Evans principal leading the project, said the design was a case of form following function.
"There's a lot of economy in designing a building where it's simply asked to work really well," said Clark, who, along with fellow principal John Wilkins, led a team of 10 architects and designers on the project. "In the end, hopefully, it still looks good, because you have an aesthetic eye for how to put it together, but it's not the thing that drives the school - which is making it a great environment, and making it an enabling environment for the teachers."
The award, announced earlier this month in Topeka, came in the Unbuilt Architecture category despite the school being in use by teachers, staffers and students. That's because construction crews still aren't done finishing all their work on the project, and nominations for design awards were due in the middle of last month.
Even without seeing the finished - that is, built - product, contest judges were impressed with Gould Evans' approach to opening up hallways, to give teachers flexibility to expand or restrict the size of their classrooms and otherwise accommodate a structured school day without stifling creativity.
"This project offers some promising internalized common spaces between classroom buildings," wrote the judges, led by Audrey O'Hagan, of Audrey O'Hagan Architects in Newton, Mass. "These spaces imply a flexible, collaborative spirit for the junior high school that would allow for student appropriation and interpretation.
"The campus strikes a nice balance between formal and informal spaces."
As construction crews continue going through the school to complete final "punch list" items, Will Fernandez, South's principal, has a list of reasons why he likes the new $23 million building, which replaced a windowless school built 40 years ago for $1.4 million.
"The newness and innovative design," Fernandez said. "All the natural light just beaming through the celestory glass at the top of our roofs of the building - and the openness of the hallways, that the student flow is maximized.
"Now we don't have the real close, crowded hallways that we had with the old South."
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BigPrune (anonymous) says…
These photos bring back memories of Cell Block C in the Big House.
Congratulations on such a novel design applied to a school. It should make the transition a little easier for some of the students for when they get older.
mom_of_three (anonymous) says…
You obviously have never visited the school or you would not have made such a comment.
OonlyBonly (anonymous) says…
And the old Hall-Kimbrell building at 15th and Wakarusa received a best architectural award even though it had no provision for handicapped access!
And my point is? Architects will apparently give anything an award.
woxy (anonymous) says…
I have visited the school, and my first thought was that it looked like a well-lit prison. Still a big improvement over the old building!
Not that I've ever been-but it did remind me of movie/tv prison blocks.
Andini (anonymous) says…
Didn't the original South Junior High win awards for designs when it was new too?
sunflowerhue (anonymous) says…
The teachers and all administrators have been told they HAVE to be positive about the building. It might be an great feat for architecture, but it is a ridiculous building. The architects/school board didn't listen and made the library so small that they had to box up almost 2,000 books that they had out at the previous school. Most classrooms don't have an outside window, but they do have a lovely view of the classrooms across the hall b/c of the glass garage doors. This enables kids to distract each other easily. It will also be great for security when there is an intruder. He'll know right where to aim. To fight these problems, teachers have covered their glass doors with paper and it makes the place look trashy. Many of the garage doors are too heavy for teachers to safely open and close and by, the way, they cost 14,000 EACH and were put on backwards! Initially the idea was that they could open them and work in the hall with other classes, but after the 14,000 purchase of each, the fire marshall said working in the hall like they had planned was unsafe. They purchased beautiful black floors, but they were so shiny you could see up skirts, so they PAID to have it scuffed! THe building leaked like crazy at the first rain and they didn't build a big enough space for the teacher copy machine so it sits in the hall. There are no staff bathrooms, etc. I could go on and on. I am sick that architects and school boards/admin. just want to make a statement rather than build something functional. Also, b/c of the garage doors, they don't have room for the lockers in the hallway. That means all of the lockers are in three rooms. That makes for a lot of chaos and it must be very difficult to supervise.
blessed3x (anonymous) says…
And everyone wonders why the schools keep coming after the taxpayers for more and more money. Couldn't a simpler, more efficient building have been designed and built for considerably less.
jayharchitect (anonymous) says…
Designed by the same Steve Clark who was 'let go' from University of Kansas School of Architecture...
HalsteadHawk (anonymous) says…
blessed3x (Anonymous) says: "And everyone wonders why the schools keep coming after the taxpayers for more and more money. Couldn't a simpler, more efficient building have been designed and built for considerably less."
Even better.. they could have just added on to the old building. I don't remember hearing that it was structurely defeciet. An addition, I'm sure, would have been much cheaper.
But, when spending other people's money there is no such thing as financial restraint.
mom_of_three (anonymous) says…
Add on to the old building? that would have made the older part look that much worse.
The new building was needed, and there is plenty of light in the building and into the classrooms with the garage doors, and large glass windows upstairs.
My kids never mentioned the leaks during the rain, so it must not have made a big impact on them.
The lockers were in separate rooms/areas in the old building, and I think that concept must have been carried to the new building. Why would you want them in the hallway anyway? Even in my high school, which was built in 1983, the lockers were not in the hallways. They were in areas off the hall way. Hallway traffic was so much easier.
sunflowerhue (anonymous) says…
Having lockers in one room is a supervision nightmare for teachers. If lockers are in a hallway, a teacher can look down the hallway and easily see if there is a problem or who is involved. The kids are more spread out and less likely to cause each other problems. With lockers in one room, teachers must leave their unlocked rooms, have no time to go to the restroom or talk to a student about missed work, but instead run to supervise the rooms. With that many students in a room it is difficult to see who is doing what. More than anything, I just think it's ironic that these architects are being applauded for building a school with huge locker areas and tiny libraries.
Mark my words, in ten years they'll be asking the tax payers for more money to replace the ridiculous garage doors and to expand the library.
When Southwest was built they accidentally built the cafeteria too small and in their first or second year they already needed portables. How is that for planning?
The architects are gaining recognition for South because it is new and innovative...nobody ever thought to build a school like that before........because it's a dumb design......just like the old building was.
woxy (anonymous) says…
The library isn't the only thing that is too small. I attended the first performance in the new auditorium, and they had to bring in folding chairs because there was not enough seating for an orchestra concert.
I keep hearing how "modern" this school is. That's exactly what the old South was in 1968-modern. I would have preferred "classic".
normal_entire_route (anonymous) says…
sunflowerhue, I'd take a deep breath. Let's take the lockers for example. They actually aren't located in "rooms" as you say. They are in the halls, just grouped together in three locations. These locations can be easily monitored by a very small number of teachers and administrators allowing the rest to do the things you mentioned; go to the restroom, talk to a student, etc. This is one common way of handling lockers and is seen in many school districts. Its also common to line lockers up along the hallways as you suggest. The district, in this case, simply made a choice. I doubt the architects forced them into doing anyhting they didn't want to do.
Logic says there's no perfect way to do it. But if as ridiculous and dumb as you say, maybe we ought to let all the other districts out there with the same locker arrangement in on your insight so they can start the renovations.
(Oh and classy comment, jayharchitect.)