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Belvidere North High School
Belvidere North High School As part of a district-wide master plan, a new high school was designed for an evolving, rural-based community experiencing rapid growth. The new 318,000 square feet high school houses 2,000 students from grades 9-12 on a campus/cluster site. The facility has distinct separate entries: a main public entrance, an entrance for gym activities, and entrances for students both from the bus area and from the student parking lot. The main entrance invites students and community to enjoy a commons area near the administrative offices. From there, the central cafeteria and the academic areas can be accessed. The two-story portion of the building contains four general classroom houses each with teacher work areas, restrooms and student lockers. These combined with the media center are centrally located within an area of specialized labs for business education, science, family consumer science, art, technology education, student guidance, student services, and special education classrooms. Exterior material choices respect the local vernacular and include brick and concrete masonry units. The prominent areas of the exterior include a four-toned brick selection that gives the illusion of reducing the scale of this large building. Horizontal, organic stratification of the brick masonry further softens the otherwise large masonry walls. By adding smaller design details to the exterior creates points of interest, depth, shadows and accentuates the facility’s windows. Tilt-up, pre-cast panels at the gymnasium enclosure were used to achieve economy in this large portion of the building. The activities area of the building includes a four-station gymnasium with wood flooring on the main basketball court, a synthetic running track surface, wrestling room and a high-tech weight/fitness room as well as physical education and athletic locker rooms. Music facilities support the band and choir programs with adequate space and provide a flexible drama/orchestra practice room. A forum room, located near the main entrance, accommodates large group meetings for instruction and is readily accessible for community use. Due to large amounts of water naturally flowing through the site it was a design challenge to keep the building dry without disrupting the flow of the water. The facility is capable of handling the water, storing it and releasing it properly as not to disrupt activities downstream. Science students benefit from these efforts supporting sustainability since a pond is created that is used as an environmental studies lab. Safety for student drivers is increased by precautions taken in designing separate access roads entering and exiting the parking lots. The design also allows clear sight lines to on-coming traffic. Since the campus site also includes a middle school and an elementary school, separate athletic fields allow different activities to take place concurrently while maintaining common pathways and parking areas. The athletic fields were designed to fulfill physical education needs as well as provide for community recreation possibilities. The construction of the school includes a mixture of load-bearing masonry exterior walls with post and beam steel frame construction elements. This concept was strategically utilized at the two-story classroom portion to maximize the ability to construct the facility as a whole and to facilitate sequencing and efficiency of construction. Energy performance was a priority in the design through the use of high quality roof insulation, insulated high performance glass windows, and a computer controlled heating and cooling system. High quality roofs, flooring, walls, windows and doors and other materials were chosen based on a life-cycle cost analysis, weighing long-term advantages, lower maintenance, durability and longevity. Project Description:
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