Dan Murray in Kenya to finalize pro-bono design of vocational campus.
Architect Dan Murray and several employees in DLR Group’s Seattle office have launched a pro-bono design project with Kizimani, a grass roots organization established by Kenya natives that is based in Portland, Ore.
Kizimani provides assistance to impoverished areas of Kenya. Murray and the Seattle team are designing a vocational school campus to support the impoverished Kangundo community in Kenya.
The concept for the vocational school campus responds to trades and industries prevalent in central Kenya. The overarching goal is to help people in Kangundo become self-sufficient and end the cycle of poverty that today defines the community.
The campus plan includes two classroom buildings, a clinic, and a retail space to sell items made on site. Phase I will establish a scalable prototype for classroom buildings and provide an overall site design for outdoor programs as well as future campus development.
Murray will be in Kangundo from January 24-31 to complete the pro-bono design efforts. His trip was funded through a grant program administered by Senior Associates in the Seattle DLR Group office. His trip is model for future international pro-bono projects. As the work continues, the project team will track their time and effort, and also catalog how design can have a positive impact on a global environment.
“This project has shown many of the next generation staff in our office, myself included, the value our profession and education truly provides. We’re not one of a half dozen architects clamoring to get a fee to do this work, where the value of our skillset is clouded by the need to compete for fee. In our pro-bono effort, the value we bring to Kangundo and Kizimani is seen in stark relief, and it is powerful,” said Murray.
Murray will be posting his experiences and impression from Kenya at this site. Please check back to follow his progress.
Garden City High School
Garden City, KS
Garden City USD 457’s vision is that diversity is a strength and school is a total learning community where anyone can learn anything, any time, any place. With a Hispanic student population more than three times that of the state average, Garden City is one of the more diverse communities in Kansas. However, an outdated learning environment was hindering students’ success and community building at the high school level.
The new 2,000-student Garden City High School represents an opportunity to positively impact the entire community and help shape the future of Western Kansas. The school is a dynamic showpiece which positions Garden City as a progressive community committed to preparing the next generation of leaders for the state.
DLR Group’s unique architecture of Garden City High School is complementary to the agricultural based western Kansas biome. The durable exterior material palette is reflective of the regional context. A large, radius loop road surrounding the school provides a clear way-finding device that metaphorically represents irrigation circles, and the growth and nurturing of students within the circle.
Garden City High School features the latest innovations in education, including small and large group gathering areas, and collaboration spaces to support project-based learning. The flexible design also has the ability to adapt to future educational models and enrollments.
The 384,000 SF design consists of four small learning communities (SLCs) to subdivide student/teacher populations and encourage interaction between students and staff. After completing the Ninth Grade SLC experience, students choose a SLC based on personal interests and future aspirations in Education & Finance; Information Technology; or Health & Agriculture.
Each SLC houses a de-centralized administrative and counseling team, core and elective classrooms, outdoor gathering areas, and student living rooms and resource centers. Student living rooms are social spaces with Wi-Fi access, flexible furniture and soft seating where students can interact before and after school and between class periods. Student resource centers are flexible, studio-like environments that support group gatherings, presentations, demonstrations and project-based learning activities.
Panther Lake Elementary School
Panther Lake Elementary School opens young minds to learning by immersing them in an environment that celebrates the dualities of daily educational experience: work/play, focus/exploration, school/neighborhood.
DLR Group’s design for this first of four new schools strengthens the suburban community by creating a connection with surrounding schools and parks; by providing healthy, sustainable learning spaces that can adapt to meet changing needs over time; and by expressing a bold new vision of the district as a community hub.
Panther Lake is school as connector between district and community, adult and child, people and nature, present and future, reality and aspiration. This project encompasses the design of a 45,000 SF replacement elementary school on a 10.2 acre site serving 450 students in grades K-5. The unique scope of work included the development of a unique, flexible program and adaptable plan; sustainable design meeting WSSP requirements; and archetypal design strategies for this and three subsequent schools.
DLR Group provided architecture, interiors, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering services, and structural engineering during early concept development.
The school’s design has recieved much recognition and won many awards, including: 2009 AIA Seattle “What Makes it Green” Recognition (Honorable Mention), Silver Award-Collaboration by Schooldesigner.com, 2010 IIDA Northern Pacific Design IN Public Award, 2011 Merit Award by the AIA Washington Council, 2011 Schooldesigner.com Best Design Overall Silver Award.
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.
Diné College Library
Shiprock, New Mexco
Diné College, located in Tsaile, Ariz., serves residents of the 26,000 square-mile Navajo Nation across Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. Founded in 1968, Diné College has two main campuses and six community centers serving approximately 2,000 students.
The new Diné College Library on the Shiprock, N.M., campus respects the vital connection between the Diné and the natural world. The library honors the built form of the sacred hogan and echoes the curving representation of the Navajo world-view.
Arched forms and curved walls present a gentle and welcoming spirit. Spaces created between the large curved forms align to special landforms, sacred directions, and celestial relationships that surround and define the world of the Navajo.
A long slit cut in the east wall of the library allows the rising sun to penetrate deep into the interior twice annually, corresponding with the beginning and ending of the school year. As the rays pierce the interior, they glance along a long stone wall and enter the Storytelling Room.
The family hogan, the center of Navajo life, is placed at the very center of the library as the Storytelling Room. It features a dramatic blue translucent enclosure rising like a prayer through the roof of the library. Lights and fiber optics in the ceiling surrounding the Story Telling Room display the Big Dipper, the North Star, and other constellations important to the storytelling tradition of the Diné.
Pierce College - Student Services Center Woodland Hills, CA
The new Student Services Center at Pierce College is prominently situated at the campus promenade. Human interaction is encouraged and the student experience enhanced by this new campus hub.
The building serves as a landmark for students, staff, and visitors entering campus. The design clarifies function and wayfinding and features walk-up windows and internet based services via computer stations. A welcoming, open courtyard conveys a relaxing and calm campus environment. The architectural vocabulary blends seaminglessly with the Mission-revival style of the original campus.
College of the Desert - Student Services Center Palm Desert, CA
This LEED-Certified student services center was designed as an open, inviting edifice that stretches its arms to the community, fits within the context of the existing campus buildings, and allows for easy access to the students with multiple points of entry. It serves as a “front door” drawing visitors to the heart of the campus, and provides a convenient one-stop location for several student services.
The dramatic glass entrance lobby transforms into a glowing lantern at night, which serves as a beacon and facilitates wayfinding. The entrance is shaped like the open pages of a book and allows for views into the main lobby atrium, while the vertical articulation of the deep-set windows of the building responds to the desert conditions and the character of the existing buildings.
Harbor College - Library Learning Resource Center Wilmington, CA
The new Library Learning Resource Center at Harbor College will fulfill the goals of the Campus Master Plan. The building integrates with other new campus facilities to define a prominent new campus mall and its unique materials will showcase it as a landmark, sustainable building. It will provide students with a state-of-the-art, highly functional, pleasant, and inspirational learning environment
The south facade will serve as a prominent backdrop to the campus mall. It will be clad with a curtain wall of horizontal louvers to block the southern sun. A glass box will house the periodical reading room will protrude through stylish louvers and offer commanding views overlooking the campus. A suspended canopy of photovoltaic panels will cap this facade.
Straight-forward, user-friendly way-finding systems promote circulation flow. The main entrance opens to a dramatic atrium. This space will provide users with clear visuals to the upper level. The Learning Center adjacent to the Library Computing area will foster a lively and collaborative environment.
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.
