Schematic Design
Schematic Design Phase
Spring 2018
Late May – Site due diligence began in earnest. Properties were surveyed and traffic studies were performed by our civil engineering firm, The Kleingers Group.
May 23 – Community-Wide Kick-Off for New Schools. Open to all stakeholders, this meeting included an update on the progress to-date, along with ample time for community feedback and input into the design of the new buildings and renovation of the high school.
Throughout 2018, the Elementary and Middle School Design Teams have made numerous trips to a variety of school districts to see the work of the Architects and Construction Management firms as we narrowed the selection process. It also gave us the opportunity to see the various design models in action. Some of the destinations have included Fairfield Freshman School, Compass Elementary, Taylor Elementary, Kramer Elementary, West Muskingum Elementary, the renovated Wyoming High School, and the Urbana PK-8 school. These visits gave us invaluable first-hand insight and interaction with the staff from those districts.
After extensive research, SHP was selected as our Architect, Skanska-Megen was selected as our Construction Manager at Risk, Kleingers Group was selected as our Civil Engineering firm, and Four Seasons Environmental was selected as our Commissioning Agent.
Summer 2018
August 1 - The Eco Charrette took place at the Activity Center. This meeting addressed our desired LEED certification, and spoke to sustainability, eco-friendly features, traffic impact studies, square footage breakdown, etc.
August 3 - The Organizational Meeting was held at First Financial Bank. This was the first joint session involving OFCC, the SLSD Core Team, SHP, Skanska and Four Seasons. The main goal of this meeting was to map out expectations, work flow, schedules, etc.
Late August / early September – Meetings were held for SLSD staff members, specific to grade level, content area, job function, etc. – covering all aspects of district operations. These allowed faculty and staff members to provide input on the design process from the standpoint of their specific area of expertise.
September 4 – Another full meeting of the Elementary and Middle School Design Teams was held at Church on Fire. Site plans and building exterior designs were discussed with the whole group, then the two groups split off to focus on walking through and explaining the organization and interior features.
Fall 2018
Late September- Engineers started the soil boring process on our new school locations on each site.
Early October - Schematic Design drawings were submitted for the 3 new Elementary Schools and the new Junior School. The construction manager, Skanska / Megen, then completed an initial cost estimate on the design.
The Schematic Design drawings are the result of dozens of meetings in which stakeholders have been included. Several programming meetings (at a core team level and then a larger, building design team level) established the parts and pieces that will be in each building. There is a fixed amount of square footage that can be used (and co-funded by the state) for each building. The district has divided this square footage to fit their unique academic needs and educational vision for future-ready schools.
There is a Building Design team for the Elementary project and Junior School project. This team includes community members, teachers, staff, and administrators who have provided input on the types of spaces that should be provided within each building (vetted the programming effort). Traffic studies have been completed for all 3 project sites. One obvious area that will need attention is the intersection of Dry Fork and West Road. An initial exterior design concept has been developed for each site.
As of mid-October, we are approximately 70% along with the design of the inside of the new schools, and around 50% of the way complete on the exterior of the buildings. Having a fixed amount of square footage and funding dictates several of our constraints. Additionally, the high school renovation scope is being honed, with those projects scheduled to start in the summer of 2019. The team we have working on the high school renovation is pictured here.
Winter 2018-2019
November / December 2018 - Budget reconciliation took place. Skanska and SHP presented the high school renovation scope, and the need to borrow 3.54 million from the locally-funded high school renovation budget to move to the co-funded bucket for the new schools. This temporary transfer was necessitated by market pressures and cost projections. Even with the buildings being designed at OSDM (Ohio School Design Manual) minimum, the budget was still higher than anticipated due to the aforementioned challenges. There is a very high likelihood that this amount will be repaid through bid day savings and interest on bonds.
The Board discussed and voted to approve the measure at their December meeting.
January 24, 2019 – The Southwest Local School District presented the second Town Hall meeting, updating the community on the design process of the new school facilities. The presentations were led by SHP Leading Design and Skanska.
Video of the event can be viewed HERE.
View the slides from the presentation contained in the video.
To view the "fly by" video renderings, please click the following links:
Junior School Exterior
Junior School Interior
Elementary Exterior
Elementary Interior
