DLR Group Tackles Two K-12 Projects

DENVER — Colorado architects DLR Group beat out nine other firms to win the Denver Public Schools’ design competition for the new Green Valley Ranch High School in northeast metropolitan Denver .

Situated on a 35-acre site and serving up to 1,600 students, the high school will be designed to accommodate several educational techniques, including traditional, departmental and small-group learning, officials say.

In developing project objectives, district officials emphasized a desire for an innovative approach to the school’s design that would reflect and enhance environmental sustainability and educational program flexibility.

With an emphasis on one-on-one learning relationships, smaller flexible-learning communities will be integrated to foster more teacher-student interactions. The design team also utilized modern technologies throughout the design to provide Internet access and computer-networking capabilities, and facilitate the use of electronic instructional techniques.

Early in the design phase, DLR project principals visited a high school in Washington state that had successfully implemented multifunctional small learning communities. Members of the design team also visited facilities in other Denver suburbs familiarize themselves with the kinds of materials, features, amenities and spaces that community stakeholders are accustomed to.

DLR’s design orients buildings south to north to maximize daylighting and classroom wings will sit at an angle to offer views of the surrounding mountains. A multi-use courtyard designed to accommodate community events will anchor the campus. The design also features larger hallways to ease traffic and minimize crowding between class periods.

The high school is set to open in August 2009.

In other news, DLR will use Mondrian design elements to create a new 234,000-square-foot high school for the J.O. Combs School District in Pinal County, Ariz. Situated on a 50-acre site south of the Superstition Mountains, the new high school is designed to accommodate up to 1,700 students in grades nine through 12. The campus will also integrate middle and elementary schools, officials say.

County voters recently approved $48 million in bond measures to supplement state funding for construction of the three new schools.

The campus development features a library, a science and life-skills center, a two-story learning community building, a performing arts building and cafeteria. Athletic facilities include a football stadium, gymnasium, several sports fields and an amphitheater. Future plans call for a separate 1,200-seat auditorium, a separate public swimming pool and a stadium concession development.