Educational

Mountain School

MountainSchool is a public charter school that serves grades K thru 6. Since 1996 the school has been operating out of a small modular building located in the Ponderosa Trails neighborhood.
 
Mountain School contacted smithARCHITECTS (sA) in 2006 to help them design a new 5,800 s.f. expansion to the existing facility that would accommodate their current and future needs. sA worked extensively with Mountain School to develop a program that met these needs and would fit within the limited construction budget. This new expansion consists of two new classrooms, a multi-purpose gymnasium, kitchen, greenhouse, library/computer room, and new restrooms. The site, which sits adjacent to their existing facility, is very small, sloped and heavily treed. In order to accommodate the slope the new facility is connected to the existing facility with a covered, ramped breezeway and the floor plan was arranged to minimize impact on the existing pine trees. The facility was designed as a series smaller scale masses in order to fit within the residential scale of the surrounding neighborhood. sA also explored and incorporated many ‘green’ aspects to the design, some of these include: large south facing operable clerestory windows to maximize natural day lighting and assist in passive ventilation, deep overhangs to minimize unwanted solar heat gain, flooring materials with recycled content, tankless water heaters, high efficiency appliances, and fluorescent lighting.
 
Bud Woodruff Construction (BWC) was selected as the Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) and immediately became an integral part of the project team. Construction costs were provided and analyzed throughout the design process and necessary modifications were incorporated to ensure that the project came within the established budget. BWC worked with the entire team to establish the construction schedule that would provide the least impact on the operation of the facility.
 
       
                                

PROJECT INFORMATION
Location: Flagstaff
Size: 5,800 s.f.
Completion: Nov. 2007