Peetz Plateau School District RE-5

Shelby Hinchliff, head architect with Neenan Archistruction, points out details on a design model showing the exterior of Peetz School's new building during a community meeting Wednesday, March 1, 2023. (Callie Jones/Sterling Journal-Advocate)

After months of collaboration with school administration, staff, students and parents, design renderings for Peetz School’s renovation and improvement project were presented at a community meeting Wednesday.

“We’re excited about the opportunity of passing our bond and getting this project started. I just want to say thank you for your belief and your trust in our community and what you’ve done, and I really appreciate all the support you’ve given us,” Superintendent Jeff Durbin said.

The designs were presented by Neenan Archistruction representatives Shelby Hinchliff, head architect; Abby Collins, interior designer; Erik Bergstrom, construction; and Chad Rayl, the district’s owners rep with Cumming Group.

During the meeting, they went over the floor plan and site plan and showed some exterior and interior models. According to Hinchliff, they are now nearing the end of the schematic design process but they are not completely finished yet, so the designs shown on Wednesday are still a work in progress.

“One of the challenges that we understand right now is there are a lot of spiraling hallways in this existing building and it can be very challenging to supervise,” she said. “So, one of the things that we have really focused on is how can we make it so that you can have one place in the school and from that one place you can see all the front doors, you can see all the way down the elementary hallway, with preschool and kindergarten along with the elementary classrooms, you can see all the way down the junior high/high school hallway, you can see all the way up into the ag, the CTE (career technical education) program and you can see all the way down to athletics. That is something that helped inform what the shape of the building looked like.”

The new portion of the school, located to the east of the gyms and ag shop, which will remain in place, will have a south-facing main entrance, making it easier to manage in winter months, with a secure vestibule serving as the single point of access into the building. Adjacent to the main entrance is a visitor parking area, a drop-off for preschool parents and a parent drop-off for the older grades looping around a staff parking lot, south of the gym and a bus drop-off to the east.

“We understood that that was definitely one of the challenges right now, we wanted to have separate areas where the bus traffic is, preschool and visitors and the parent drop off and staff,” Hinchliff said, adding that the current parking to the west of the building will remain in place for athletic events.

There was a question about whether metal detectors will be put in at the entrance. Hinchliff said that has not been discussed, but there are safety features requiring visitors to buzz in to get into the vestibule and all of the exterior doors can be locked with a time release.

Inside, the new administrative area, adjacent to the main entry, has clear visibility of the main entry and building approach, and there is visibility of all hallways and student areas from a single central location.

All pedestrian functions are south facing and protected from prevailing winds and there will be north/south exposures for all classrooms, which is ideal for daylighting, plus a north-facing clerestory to bring daylight into the middle of the school.

Middle and high school core curriculum will be on one side of the building, while preschool, kindergarten and elementary classrooms will be on the other side of the building, so that younger and older students can be separated as much as possible with their own designated areas. Plus, shared central resources, such as the library and special education, will really be shared and central.

“This is great for security but also having a K-12 that isn’t having any of those challenging issues with kids having to walk all the way across the building. It also will be helpful for teachers in sharing resources and collaboration,” Collins said.

Additionally, there will be larger classrooms with consistent sizes that will be more ideal for teaching and while the existing commons will remain for community and athletic functions, a new multiple-purpose commons will be added for school functions and there will be collaborative space or larger school meeting space.

The existing portion of the building that will remain in place – the gyms and the ag shop – will see several upgrades, including a new roof and accessibility upgrades. In the small gym, the current stage will be transformed into a weight room and on the opposite side of the room, adjacent to the music classroom, will be a flex room that can be used for robotics and it will become the new stage too. It will be a little bit smaller than the current stage but still elevated off of the ground.

There will also be the ability to close off access to the rest of the building during athletic and community events.

Outside of the new addition, there will be one playground near the preschool classroom and another outside of the elementary area, as well as an outdoor learning space outside of the library.

There are also a few areas that have been identified that will be used for stormwater retention.

Hinchliff and Collins spoke about working with students to find out their preferences for what the exterior and interior of the building should look like.

“The students were truly collaborative with us that day, it was definitely a highlight of my career,” Hinchliff said.

“It just felt right to be designing a school for kids with kids and I think that their ways of perceiving space, they’re very in tune with it and they know what works and what doesn’t and what they like, and just their insights on things was really eye-opening,” Collins added.

The students really wanted a building with varied storied windows, varying wall heights and lots of natural light, something that fits in the local environment and something that is a blend of an agricultural feel with modern architecture. For the interior, they wanted it to be cozy and feel like home, but still inspiring, fun and engaging, and not too institutional.

“That exercise really helped inform some of the different higher-level concepts that we are looking at applying to this building as we move through the phases. Again, just paying attention to this is a building that has a lot of importance in this town and so the legacy of this and the look and the feel is something we’re paying a lot of attention to,” Collins said.

Hinchliff also spoke about using a repetition of three in the design – past, present and future.

A groundbreaking ceremony for the project will be held Friday, May 5. This coming fall, there will be a fence and construction on the new addition will be started but for the 2023-24 school year the school will still operate in the current building the way it is right now.

“We’ve designed this so that we can build the classrooms, the admin, the kitchen, the cafeterias, the mechanical room, all as its own standalone building,” Hinchliff said.

Demolishment of the portion of the current school that isn’t being kept and building the connection between the new addition and the current building will overlap during a school year for at least a fall semester and a little bit into the spring semester.

Hinchliff noted that one of the school’s gyms will remain open at all times during the project, which is expected to be completed 20-22 months from the groundbreaking date.

“One thing that we are facing and it’s not just this school district, it’s across the state, across the nation, is getting supplies and materials and getting them here and delivered on time. There are certain things that we can’t control, that are out of our control, but the things that we can control I can guarantee we’ll be on top of trying to stay on that timeline and on budget, at all costs and all times,” Durbin said.

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