2009 Monarch Award Gila Ridge High School Yuma, Arizona High School Design/Bid/Build VCBO Architecture.

Gila Ridge High School, Yuma, AZ

2009 Monarch Award

Gila Ridge High School

Yuma, ArizonaHigh School

Design/Bid/BuildVCBO Architecture


The Yuma, Arizona weather allows for common areas to be moved outside. The Mall is the social center of the school, with the library at the heart (“SEARCH”).


Classrooms are designed to be flexible and can be re-configured to adapt to the curriculum. The windows allow natural daylight from the classroom to enter the collaboration spaces and provide a more open, community feel.


Learning takes place both in and out of the classroom. Collaboration spaces are essential to prepare students for College and for a lifetime of learning.


Student traffic areas were designed both indoors and outdoors. The North side of the buildings provide shade during the hot Arizona days. This view shows the “Explore” academy.


The Dining Room overflows onto the outdoor Commons/Mall area. Students dine outside for seven months of the school year. The Media Center (“Search”) overlooks the Mall, provides valuable shade, and invites the students to SEARCH for knowledge and insight.Note: Photo taken before shade structures were completed


The indoor Dining Room is designed as a flexible space that can be used as a lobby for student registration by opening up to the Bookstore. Families registering in August can enjoy a temperate space while waiting for ID cards and books.


The Media Center is an inviting area that makes full use of natural daylighting. Inspiring quotations create curiosity among students.


Signage was a key learning element on this project: Glass at entrances to all buildings is etched with topic appropriate quotations. Buildings themselves are named with action verbs to indicate function.

Within the Academic Houses themselves, there is a number sequence, either binary code (which hides a fun message to students who decode it), the Fibonacci Sequence, Prime Numbers, or 200 feet of “Pi”.

Further, historical timelines create fun parallels, and grab student attention – topics of the timelines include the history of transportation, scientific discovery, communications, inventions, art and architecture, food technology, and of course, Yuma, Arizona.


The 1200-seat Auditorium was modeled digitally, to achieve outstanding acoustics; the space also features a state-of-the-art lighting system. The Auditorium is used by both the school and the Yuma community.


The Gila Ridge High School landscaping features hardy, attractive desert plants that contribute to the District’s goals for sustainable buildings and require very little water.


This site is shared with Yuma City on the western side, and Arizona Western College shares the stadium with the High School. From the start of the project, one of the most important design factors was the orientation of the building with the long axes to the north or south (The easiest and most economical sustainable measure!)

north

Gila Ridge High School Site Plan



Main Floor Plan



Upper Floor Plan



Enlarged Academic House

Each Learning Academy enjoys a different color scheme, name, and theme, enhancing student identity and wayfinding, while piquing student interest. Houses may be organized by grade level or career path. Central teacher’s office space encourages collaboration and frees up classroom use.



Enlarged Science Laboratory

The Science Lab was designed to allow ultimate flexibility: The gas and air are recessed, with a removable cover, and the loose tables can be configured in a variety of ways accommodating a full array of diverse experiments. Two lecture classrooms share each laboratory, which is centrally located in each Learning Academy.



Enlarged Science LaboratoryPlanning Process & Specific Challenges

The school provides an innovative and environmentally responsive design solution resulting from a lively collaboration of stakeholders. The District determined the need for the new building, interviewed architects, and then set up a group to begin defining the program for a completely new and student-centered facility. The programming and design committee included administrators, facilities/maintenance personnel, department heads and teachers from the existing 4 comprehensive high schools, parents, and most importantly, students. Small Learning Communities were requested from all stakeholders; even the science teachers were willing to separate labs to achieve this goal.

This design/programming committee created eight specific challenges

that the new building must accommodate. It would have to:• Support an integrated, project-based, technology-rich

curriculum • Encourage collaboration & create community – Small

Learning Communities are critical• Provide a sustainable environment • Enhance physical educational space • Pique student interest • Incorporate durability & maintainability • Be an integral community partner • Appeal to the aesthetics of the future occupants

The SolutionThe solution is multi-faceted, like the challenges, which were answered as follows:

Support an integrated, project-based, technology-rich curriculum:The school is comprised of 5 buildings, including two 2-story academic buildings. Within each of the academies, there is a science core, specifically designed to be appropriate for all science disciplines, a faculty office, where the instructors have space to work individually or together, and classrooms surrounding a highly visible collaboration space. This accommodates both grade-level-specific and multi-age interest-based academies, encouraging an integrated curriculum. Technology design includes ceiling-mounted projection and fully integrated sound reinforcement in all classrooms, as well as wifi availability throughout the campus. The rear portion of the Auditorium is designed to act as a small stadium seating style Lecture Hall with fully integrated projection systems.

Encourage collaboration & create community:The Academic houses create small student/teacher communities, which all coincide at the heart of the campus, where the Media Center and the central quad are intentionally located. The student collaboration spaces in each learning academy include conference rooms where students can meet with acoustic privacy, as well as the larger spaces for bigger groups, all totally supervisable through large interior windows in each classroom.


Provide a sustainable environment:Sustainable measures incorporated into the design of the project include the careful and conscious orientation of the building along the East West axis, (all classrooms have only south or north facing fenestration), the choice to use locally produced and low voc building materials, and selection of a chilled water mechanical system for cooling, rather than the package rooftop units commonly used in the area. Electrically, the building utilizes multi-level lighting options and occupancy sensors within the individual spaces to accommodate different classroom activities, as well as saving energy. Classroom daylighting was modeled, and sloped ceilings with a very high light reflectance were utilized to draw natural light deep into each classroom. The building envelope design, including the use of high performance glazing and the use of light-colored exterior materials also contribute to this exceptionally energy conscious facility.Enhance physical educational space:The building is designed to optimize natural daylighting; all learning spaces are daylit and oriented to increase year round environmental comfort, both inside and outside. The main circulation spine is located on the north side of the building, utilizing shade created from the shadow of the building itself. The building siting also creates a natural ventilation effect in all but the hottest months by capturing the prevailing winds at the same time highlighting the panoramic views offered to the East, North and West. Color selections are designed to appeal to the student community, recollecting the desert landscape.Pique student interest:

Etched on the glass throughout the facility are inspiring quotes from eminent thinkers of many nationalities, and “welcome” in over 50 languages. Each collaboration space bears either the Fibonacci series, the prime numbers, the numbers of Pi, or a secret message expressed in binary code, as well as a themed timeline. Academic houses are named Explore and Discover, providing identities, color schemes, and way finding for the academies.

Incorporate durability & maintainability:District maintenance staff played a huge role in the selection of finishes, materials, and systems for this project. All were selected for ease of maintenance and durability, as well as life cycle performance, local origin, (where possible), and aesthetics.Be an integral community partner:

The community passed a bond to pay for building amenities that the state facility building funds do not - the performing arts space, applied technology labs, and additional sports facilities, as well as the upgraded mechanical system, lighting and interior tile wall finish. The stadium was built as a shared venture with the Western Arizona Community College down the street, and the City will be building a city park on 20 of the project’s acres. The health clinic, located at the front of the Admin building, is utilized by the greater community as well.

Appeal to the aesthetics of the future occupants:The exterior colors were selected both to be a part of the desert, and to catch the eye of the community. Inside the complex, colors were chosen to enhance wayfinding, and create a sense of place – occupants know where they are, partly as a result of the theming of the building, partly due to the color with which they are surrounded. Theming shows up in a number of places – the timelines, which respond to their location on the campus, and the area appropriate quotes, etched on the glass, as well as the exterior signage – which tells patrons not only “where” – but “what”!


This project had a total project budget from the State of Arizona of approximately $34 million, plus bond monies of $16 million from the local constituency, and included money for building design, city impact fees and permits, and fixtures, furniture, and equipment.


Project Budget


Project Name Gila Ridge High School

City Yuma

State Arizona

District Name Yuma Union High School District #70

Supt/President Toni Badone

Occupancy Date August 1, 2007

Grades Housed 9-12

Capacity(Students) 1,800

Site Size (acres) 40 Acres (school site: 40 acres, total site: 80 acres)

Gross Area (sq. ft.) 270,000 sq ft

Per Occupant(pupil) 150 sq ft

gross/net please indicate

Design and Build? No

If yes, Total Cost:

Includes:

If no,

Site Development: $4,054,000

Building Construction: $41,619,000

Fixed Equipment: $1,500,000

Other:

Total: $47,173,000


Project Details



Educational Specifications

Educational Specification is included in a separate PDF file.


Submitting Firm : VCBO ArchitectureProject Role Architect of RecordProject Contact Boyd McAllisterTitle Principal in ChargeAddress 524 South 600 EastCity, State or Province, Country Salt Lake City, UtahPhone 801-575-8800

Joint Partner Firm:Project RoleProject ContactTitleAddressCity, State or Province, CountryPhone

Other Firm:Project RoleProject ContactTitleAddressCity, State or Province, CountryPhone

Construction Firm: Pilkington ConstructionProject Role General ContractorProject Contact Jim PilkingtonTitle President Address 2975 South Avenue BCity, State or Province, Country Yuma, ArizonaPhone 928-317-0345


Confidential Form


Photo ReleasePrint, Sign, Scan and Submit with Package

Name of Project: Gila Ridge High SchoolLocation of Project: Yuma, ArizonaOccupancy Date, if applicable: August 1, 2007

CEFPI has our permission to:

Send photos electronically to jury members (required for entry).

Display photos in the award winners’ area of the website, if selected as a finalist.

Display photos on other sections of the website as representative CEFPI projects.

Print photos in CEFPI newsletters.

Print photos on CEFPI marketing materials, i.e. brochures , awards, call for entries, etc.

Print photos and project details in the CEFPI Design Portfolio, if selected as a finalist.

Special projects with prior permission.

Please Note: CEFPI maintains an in-house archive of school designs as part of our research library.Your information will be entered and recorded as one of those designs.

Firm: VCBO ArchitectureResponsible Party/Photographer: Boyd McAllisterSignature:

Date of Release: May 15, 2009

2009 Monarch Award Gila Ridge High School Yuma, Arizona High School Design/Bid/Build VCBO Architecture.

Documents