Western Maricopa Education Center
In 2010, an aviation and related specialty training center for high school and adult students was added to the Western Maricopa Education Center (West-MEC).
The creative use of material and systems coupled with the economies of a pre-engineered metal building provide West-MEC the most most value for its building investment. The 47,000 SF building includes seven classrooms, training labs, meeting spaces, a library, computer labs and offices surrounding a 20,000 SF aircraft hangar which is home to four small planes with ancillary engines and parts for hands-on training.
Expressions from a plane fuselage are found throughout the building, from the exterior shell to the interior lobby lighting details inspired by overhead light consoles in an aircraft. Bright colored banding on the walls emulates the aircraft fetailing on a small plane. These visual cues help students and visitors immediately understand they have entered a place of aviation study.
The main conference room is inspired by the interior of a private jet. Walls angle and merge into the ceiling plane to create the unique impression of being in a fuselage. Similar to the communication tools used to navigate on the tarmac, striping and super-graphics guide users into and throughout the building.
The building won the WESTMARC Best of the West Architectural Innovation Award for its design.
Marysville Getchell High School Campus
Set among second-growth trees, forest wetlands, and with sweeping territorial views, the Marysville Getchell campus is a school that excites a student’s senses with an innovative learning environment.
DLR Group’s design of the new high school enables great flexibility in the administration of student-focused learning. Responding to the District’s adoption of a new, small learning community (SLC) model, the design arranges four, independent SLC buildings around a central Campus Commons. Within each SLC building, a series of interconnected learning spaces support the educational approach described by the District’s Five Guiding Principles: Relationships at the Center, Focused Learning, Identity and Purpose, Community, and Accountability.
Generous glazing and intriguing outdoor learning spaces create sense of connection to nature and community. It’s this openness and connectivity that make every space a learning space at Marysville Getchell, and which encourages student growth as global citizens.
DLR Group was the recipient of the 2011 AIA/CAE McConnell Award for the Marysville Getchell High School Campus design.
Mild weather and integrated design team helping construction of new Battle High School in Columbia, Mo. stay on schedule and budget. http://bit.ly/BattleHS
Metea Valley High School is a new high school design for 3,000 students in suburban Chicago. The design provides the flexibility to support a multitude of teaching/learning concepts such as school-within-a-school, multi-grade level houses, or block scheduling.
To support the core instructional areas, within each wing is a unique consolidation of administration offices, student lockers, vertical circulation, teacher planning centers, and resource areas creating a think tank type environment for academic exploration, tutorial, and socialization.
A media center, forum rooms, and check-out computer labs connect the two wings. The spaces that make up this connection are flanked on each side by two courtyards. These courtyards expose the building core to natural light, allow for secure outdoor dining, create an interior sculpture garden, and provide southern exposure for a greenhouse and rooftop garden.
New Garden City (Kan.) HS. Elevating the human experience through design.
Images courtesy Adolfson & Peterson.
