Marysville Getchell High School Campus Marysville, WA New Construction Project of Distinction DLR Group 2011 Exhibition of School Planning and Architecture.

Marysville Getchell High School Campus

Marysville, WANew Construction

Project of DistinctionDLR Group

2011 Exhibition of School Planning and Architecture

Marysville Getchell High School Campus

Set among second-growth trees and forest wetlands, with sweeping territorial views, the Marysville Getchell High School Campus is a retreat for learning.

Marysville Getchell High School Campus

Learning CommunitiesCommunity Environment: Prior to this project, Marysville School District had begun to transform its secondary schools. Recognizing that an existing large, comprehensive high school approach was not meeting standards for student success, the District initiated a shift to adopt a smaller learning communities (LC) program. Marysville Getchell Campus (MGC) was the first capital project to follow this shift.

The four high schools now on-site at Marysville Getchell Campus interrelate with four other LCs at other locations to form the district’s entire learning communities program. In responding directly to the district’s Guiding Principles, the campus design serves the community in creating ideal conditions for improving student learning and success and preparing students for life after secondary education.

Marysville Getchell High School Campus Guiding Principles   Relationships at the CenterStudents feel known, valued, and inspired to perform at their highest potential. Collaboration (student-to-staff, staff-to-staff, student-to-student, and parent-to-school) personalizes learning. Every student has an adult advocate who encourages high achievement. Positive relationships are promoted. Focused LearningStudent learning, starting with literacy, drives all decisions, including those related to instruction and construction. Purposeful teaching is responsive and challenges each student to meet or exceed district/state standards. Hands-on, interest-based, collaborative experiences allow all students to experience success on a daily basis. Identity - PurposeEach small learning community has a distinct, well-articulated vision, mission, and focus embraced by all and imbedded in the school’s culture. The vision/purpose acts as the foundation for building design, curriculum, instructional approaches, and ongoing professional development. Students choose small learning communities reflective of their unique learning needs and interests. CommunitySchool/community partnerships promote real-life learning experiences. Each student’s cultural background and experiences are respected, valued and connected to the curriculum. Resources are equitably distributed to ensure success for every student. Students are connected to the community through internships, job shadowing and community projects. AccountabilityOutcomes are specified and measured. Members of the school community work together, share expertise, employ data, and exercise leadership to ensure student achievement is the intended result of all decisions. They retain primary responsibility, are provided with appropriate flexibility, and accept accountability for decisions. Parents/guardians partner in the responsibility for student engagement and success.

Global CitizenshipCommunity Environment: The Marysville Getchell Campus promotes global citizenship, including environmental accountability. The school’s design and integration with the landscape emphasizes the importance of student and community stewardship of local surroundings.

In preserving much of the natural site conditions, the campus design honors the natural heritage and beauty of the area that the community inhabits. Students and visitors to the campus feel that they enter a place that is inherently Marysville, even as it is globally connected. They feel that the campus is something more than high school. It is a retreat for learning.

Community ConnectionsCommunity Environment: The campus supports direct connections between students and community. Community members are welcomed on-site at all hours of the day. The facilities provide small group areas, large group gathering, and technology support for guest speaking, tutoring, and distance learning programs.

The school further involves students in the community through internship and outreach programs. The International School of Communications works with other school communities through distance learning connections to integrate curricula and building global relationships. The School for the Entrepreneur is working with local businesses to provide real world experiences and mentorships. A course called Advanced Leadership includes participation in community service projects. Outreach to regional colleges gives students opportunities for dual credits in multiple courses.

Interest-Based LearningLearning Environment: On the Marysville Getchell Campus, four high school buildings house four independent learning communities:•Academy of Construction and

Engineering (ACE); •Bio-Med Academy (BIO); •International School of Communications (ISC);•School for the Entrepreneur (SFE) Fulfilling the principle of Focused Learning, the strategy to provide a dedicated building for each LC creates spatial focus on each school’s unique learning emphasis. Students and teachers immerse themselves fully in their interest-based curricula.

Campus HubLearning Environment: A Campus Commons (CC) building supports all four LC’s. The CC houses a central kitchen and cafeteria, the gymnasium, stage, PE spaces and shared support resources. Providing these functions in a building shared by all LC’s contributes to fulfilling the district’s principle of Community, allowing all students to connect with the wider campus community in social gathering, sports and events.

A network of pedestrian pathways, bridges and patios further connect all five buildings together as a community while providing opportunities for both social gathering and outdoor learning.

Open, Transparent, FlexibleLearning Environment: A consistent architectural language establishes equity between each of the LC’s on campus. All buildings provide the same essential learning spaces. All use minimal finishes, exposed systems and a large amount of glazing to create a sense of openness and transparency. And all of them integrate into the natural site conditions sensitively rather than impose themselves on the landscape. But each LC is afforded the opportunity to convey its Identity – Purpose through exterior and interior color accents, identity graphics and Specialized Learning spaces tailored to each LC’s interest-based focus. Inside each LC, students and teachers use a series of interconnected and flexible learning spaces. There are no hallways. Every single space is used for education. The relatively small size of each LC (approximately 400 students), the transparency and interconnectedness of spaces and architecture, and the absolute focus on learning in all spaces help keep Relationships at the Center and better enable Accountability in student success.

Site PreservationPhysical Environment - For a sustainable site, the campus plan and multi-story building design maximizes site preservation and protects surrounding wetlands and second-growth forest. The building designs adapt to the site’s natural slope, minimizing grading. Site areas— including an amphitheater, decks and viewing platforms—provide outdoor learning opportunities. Way-finding and buffer signage crafted by a local artist provide site-relevant, environmental education to visitors, staff, and students

Energy EfficientPhysical Environment -To reduce energy dependence, building orientation and high-efficiency glass maximize natural daylighting. Operable windows and the forest canopy cool the buildings. A high-efficiency HVAC system will beat local energy code requirements by at least 20%.

Sustainable StrategiesPhysical Environment - Sustainable strategies in materials use include the choice of products carrying 20-30 year warranties for ease of maintenance and durability. Exposed ceiling structure and ductwork minimizes materials use. Polished concrete flooring in high traffic areas is durable, attractive and complements the school’s natural aesthetic. To preserve water, two campus buildings return roof water runoff to surrounding wetlands rather than storm water systems. The design places rain gardens in small, minimially-paved parking lots. Outdoor hardscape includes pervious materials such as grid paving products, crushed stone and wood mulch (chipped from trees and brush removed from the site). Root balls of the few large trees removed from the site were given to a county program for use in building up fish habitats in local rivers.

Student InvolvementPlanning Process: The design team engaged two primary groups in the planning and design process: the Core Team, consisting of administrators, and the Concept Development Team, an expanded group of community members, teachers, staff, counselors, and students.

Aware that involvement of students was critical, the team engaged students every step of the way. High school interns worked with the architects, student focus groups helped form each LC’s identity, and a wheelchair-bound student conducted an ongoing American with Disabilities Act (ADA) analysis. Bringing attention to the emotional experience of those who are “differently-able” this young woman was eventually employed by the architect to offer greater insights, including helping with furniture selection. Her story was published as an article in the American School Board Journal, documenting a student’s experience with the design process.

Community InvolvementPlanning Process: Planning and conceptual design spanned four months. The process kicked off with a Visioning Workshop for the Core team to outline the project parameters, scope and schedule.

Other key planning and design events included:Programming Workshop with the Core Team – the team compared three different high school campus models and narrowed the focus to one preferred planning model that everyone agreed supported the five Guiding Principles.Three-day design workshop with the Concept Development Team – the design team collaborated with stakeholders to define three different conceptual options.First Community Open House – following the design charrette, the district displayed the high school campus design concepts to gain feedback from the public, district faculty and staff, and students.Design Workshop – the design team consolidated comments heard during the community open house and returned to the Concept Development Team with two different approaches to the campus layout and form.Second Community Open House – the district shared the design concepts to the community a second time, again receiving valuable feedback.Focus Groups – designers also moderated several focus groups of teachers and students. These focus groups were integrated, interdisciplinary teams so designers could focus on how people would build relationships and learn in specific environments, not personal wants. These insights were used to continue developing the design concept and to create the initial draft of the educational specifications.

Exhibition of School Planning and Architecture 2011 Project Data

Submitting Firm : DLR GroupProject Role Architect/Educational Planner/EngineerProject Contact Craig Mason, AIA, LEED APTitle Principal, DesignerAddress 901 Fifth Ave., Ste. 700City, State or Province, Country Seattle, WA, USA 98164Phone 206-461-6000

OTHER Firm: Architects of AchievementProject Role Educational ConsultantProject Contact Victoria BergsagelTitle PresidentAddress 3036 69th Ave. SECity, State or Province, Country Mercer Island, WA , USA 98040Phone 206-420-1400

Other Firm: BrainSpacesProject Role Educational PlannerProject Contact Amy Yurko, AIATitle FounderAddress 110 N. California Ave.City, State or Province, Country Chicago, IL, USA 60622Phone 773-531-3221

Construction Firm: Absher Construction CompanyProject Role General Contractor, Construction ManagerProject Contact Curt GimmestadTitle PrincipalAddress 1001 Shaw RoadCity, State or Province, Country Puyallup, WA, USA 98372Phone 253-845-9544

Exhibition of School Planning and Architecture 2010 Project Details

Project Name  Marysville Getchell High School Campus

City  Marysville

State  Washing

District Name  Marysville School District

Supt/President  Dr. Larry Nyland

Occupancy Date  August 2010

Grades Housed  9-12

Capacity(Students)  1,600 (400 per learning community)

Site Size (acres)  43

Gross Area (sq. ft.) 195,000

Per Occupant(pupil)  122

gross/net please indicate  gross

Design and Build?  

If yes, Total Cost:  

Includes:  

If no,  

Site Development:  $7,000,000

Building Construction:  $63,000,000

Fixed Equipment:  $2,000,000

Other:  $13,000,000

Total:  $85,000,000