Scheduled Opening:
September 1994
Building Specifications:
2.03 Acres
53,080 sf.
School Information:
400 Student Capacity
Junior Kindergarten to Gr. 6
Pye & Richards Architects
Goodkey Weedmark &
Associates 1985 Ltd.
Lashley & Associates
The Ottawa Carleton District
School Board
- R.C. Gillett, Director of Education
This inner city school replaces an agglomeration of obsolete buildings. The school is an important community focus in an older residential neighbourhood with a widely diverse economic, social, and cultural population.
The School Board and community wished to use materials and forms which would preserve some of the architectural flavour of the former 1913 school. Brick with limestone coloured precast concrete detailing, is used to reflect the neighbourhood's characteristic, early 20th century, domestic architecture and its more formal institutional buildings.
To maximize play yard area, the new structure is positioned as far South and West as municipal authorities would permit. The walls are stepped back on the North side to minimize winter shade in the rear playground. The site, and in particular the kindergarten/child care play yard will be heavily planted with deciduous trees (including 20 mature trees transplanted within the site) to provide summer shade and u/v protection.
Municipal by-laws required 32 parking places. Selected planting provides screening of vehicles while still ensuring the necessary security viewing of the playground from the street. Garbage and service access are located within the building so as to be remote from student play areas. To be away from busy traffic the student access and bus drop-off are on the side street.
The gymnasium and lunch/exercise rooms will be widely used outside school hours for community activities and were, for that reason, arranged to be accessible separately from the remainder of the school. They are grouped around the gathering area provided by the central lobby along with the administrative, custodial and community liaison offices which were required to interface with the public. The child car facility also needed to have a separate entrance for summer and after school access.
The two kindergartens were required to be located at grade with a dedicated entrance from their play yard. Small group instruction rooms had to be located to facilitate withdrawal from classes of groups of students needing english language and other special instruction. All facilities are barrier-free.
The design addresses current environmental issues by incorporating energy saving technologies and state of the art Energy Management control systems that reduce consumption of purchased energies and resources including: The heating system uses natural gas as it is an environmentally friendly fuel which is clean, safe, inexpensive, and abundant. The building automation system (BAS) monitors and controls a variety of aspects of the building functions from outdoor air control to lighting control. Fully air conditioned using a multi-compressor chiller capable of maintaining finite temperature control. Air distribution using multiple air handling systems providing accurate environmental control to the individual spaces. All air handling systems incorporate outdoor air economizers to maximize free cooling and maintain indoor air quality standards. Fully automatic sprinkler and a state of the are fully addressable fire alarms system contribute to life safety. Energy efficient fluorescent lighting throughout. Interior/exterior lighting is controlled by BAS that automatically turns programmed lights on or off.
15 classrooms, 1 kindergarten classroom, 2 kindergartens, 3 small group instruction rooms, library, gymnasium, lunch/exercise room and a child care facility.
Reinforced concrete structure with steel joist roof. Masonry walls and partitions, brick and precast concrete clad. Multiple boilers and multi-component chillers provide energy efficiency, flexibility and system back-up for VAV controlled all air heating and cooling systems. Classroom lighting is 40% indirect under 10' ceilings. Exterior walls are insulated to R17; roofs to R20. All glazing is sealed units, argon filled, low-E coated.
The design intent was to provide a school with the flexibility to adapt to future changes, both technological and educational.
