Edison Preparatory School Breaks Ground

TULSA, Okla. — Since 2010, there have been more than 40 tornados across the United States that have resulted in close to 750 deaths and many more people injured, according to Doug Koehne, AIA, director of K-12 Planning for KSQ Architects in the firm’s Dallas office. The 2013 tornado in Moore, Okla., for example, brought the need for increased evaluation methods and more proactive design considerations for student and teacher safety in Oklahoma schools.

Edison Preparatory School in Tulsa is one school that is taking these design considerations seriously. Construction broke ground on Nov. 25 on an 18,500-square-foot collegiate center that will also function as two FEMA-361, ICC-500-rated safe rooms. Not only will the safe rooms provide safety in the event of a tornado, but they will also double as major testing sites for the entire Tulsa Public Schools district. The addition will include two new lecture halls as the safe rooms, as well as a college-counseling center that will serve as an incentive to attract more students.

Scheduled for completion in summer 2015, the project will be quite the undertaking because of its multipurpose needs. School Construction News spoke with Kyle Casper, lead designer for KSQ Architects in the firm’s Tulsa office, about the complexity of designing such a multifunctional space.

Q: What is the main goal of the project?

Casper: Because it’s a preparatory school, the main goal of the building project is to attract students to this particular school rather than to the other schools in other districts that may have more resources. The primary goal of the school was to put a hood ornament out there that said the school was competitive and adventurous and entrepreneurial — the context and identity that prepares you for college. So, it’s an adventurous and exciting design. KSQ is known for [working on] student housing and dining projects but also has a history of putting character buildings in higher education, and we’re looking to do that in the K-12 market in Tulsa. The lecture halls are better characterized as testing centers, and they have about 100 different functions. It has been a very fascinating exercise in integrating so many things in a building and then basically locking it in a concrete vault.

Q: What are some of the key elements involved in the design of the new space?

Casper: It’s a secure school, so [the addition] is not going to be very transparent or open. They already put a library at the front doors, where everyone has to go through a secure checkpoint. It was difficult for us because our site was right next door to the library. We blocked off even visual access of how to get in and out of the building, so we wanted our building to solve and explain circulation issues.

The second really challenging issue was the programming of the building. All of the school events have so many needs. We have a laundry list of different testing requirements. For instance, we have to be able to fit [students] 5-feet apart, and everyone has to have an equal visual and acoustical access. There are a lot of technical and just testing dynamics that had to go into these storm shelters. The walls are 1-foot thick, the roof is 2-feet thick and both are made of all concrete.

Q: What are the key factors in designing a tornado shelter?

Casper: This is the highest rated FEMA shelter that you can get. There are five different ratings, but this is the 360 one, which is near absolute protection. There are all sorts of interesting things you have to do with natural ventilation backup systems and providing restrooms in a place without plumbing. You’re just rethinking everything from the ground up and then putting a testing center in the middle of it. A testing center is going to have the highest amount of technology of almost any type of building. Then, you’re putting it in an impenetrable, concrete box and planning that, when all the systems go down, everyone can still breathe and subsist. I do a lot of work for decentralized energy and risk reduction, so these ideas and technology can come out of the shelter and can be used in people’s homes, communities or shopping centers. Since the project is being mandated, we have the opportunity to have to figure it out.

Q: What do you foresee being the biggest challenge on this project when construction begins?

Casper: With any project the biggest challenge is often ensuring the project meets the wants and needs of all the stakeholders. We have principals very excited about having this building that people want to see and be seen in — as architects, that’s exciting for us also. But we always have to balance practicality, considering the structural and mechanical requirements, of course.

Q: Why do you think more 21st school designs are incorporating multidisciplinary spaces?

Casper: One thing is cost and budget. The more you can integrate program-wise into a singular space helps, but you also have to figure out security and circulation issues. It can be built into BIM, but [the school administration] also has to build it into coordinating those spaces. We used to have to provide a specific functional space, but now we are designing spaces that are able to have a lot of functions.