South Valley Middle School was built in the mid 1950’s as a high school and later converted to a middle school. The 21-acre campus, located in a diverse neighborhood, had reached its’ end of life and needed replacement. The new “Village Concept” design includes a completely new look for the school and relocates the entry from a congested neighborhood street to another, providing much needed traffic relief and a safer drop off zone for the students. The school now has new classrooms with outdoor learning areas, science lab and makers space classrooms, a signature administration building, a Multi-Use and library building, and new gymnasium with a weight room and indoor climbing wall. Tiger Quad, at the heart of the school, depicts the school’s mascot’s tiger paw, surrounded by the new outdoor learning spaces. This project was constructed on an occupied campus and was phased to allow for minimum occupancy disruption.
The phased renovation of Brownell Middle School included a complete campus reconfiguration. The new buildings consist of single-story construction of six learning communities, an administration building, a library/media center, and a kitchen addition in the Multi-purpose building. Each learning community has a shared, secure outdoor learning environment and the classrooms feature roll-up garage style doors to allow for collaboration between classes. Modernization and site improvements included upgrading the existing multi-purpose gym, PE and athletic facilities along the west and east side of the school, and new onsite utilities. New construction consisted of the addition of a new staff parking lot on the north end and staff and visitor parking lot on the west end, approximately 89 stalls, school signage, a new marquee sign, and multiple independent custom shade structures. Additionally, the school is equipped with solar panels and features a large central courtyard.
In May of 2018 the NUSD Board of Trustees passed a STEAM resolution setting in motion a vision to reinvent the school experience for the entire TK-12 district. Aedis is charged with helping the district implement this transformation beginning with an update to the 2011 facilities master plan (FMP). The FMP update will include current facilities maintenance needs, an assessment of current STEAM educational effectiveness district-wide, and site plans, strategies, and cost estimates that chart a course forward, preparing the community for a future bond. The District leadership emphasized that Transparency and Community Engagement were key and Aedis responded by designing and facilitating a series of stakeholder engagement workshops that began with leadership team building and a district wide Design Thinking Workshop that resulted in a shared set of guiding principles.
Due to enrollment pressure, the newly completed high school campus needed an additional classroom wing. This building was designed with sustainable elements such as a east-west building orientation, light wells, high efficiency HVAC and lighting connected to operable windows, low-VOC materials, superior energy performance and a reduced building footprint.
This project was challenged by a very small site, with a significant slope. The design responded by embedding the structure into the hill, allowing an at-grade entrance on the second floor. The program included Science and standard classrooms, with a teachers lounge that accommodates Science Department offices. The entire building was conceived to maximize a sense of openness with wider hallways, extensive daylighting, and department office natural light.