Program

Architect:
Grimm and Parker Architects
11785 Beltsville Drive, Calverton, Maryland  20705
Principal-in-Charge & Contact: Stephen Parker AIA 301-595-1000, sparker@gparch.com
Educational Planner: Grimm and Parker Architects
http://www.gparch.com

School Data:
Kent Island High School
Love Point Road, Stevensville, Maryland  21666
Dr. Bernie Sadusky, Superintendent
Contact: Andy Onukwubiri, Owner’s Representative, 800-336-7775 x144
Site Development Cost: $2,268,922.00
Fixed Equipment Cost: $946,000.00

Associate firms and products are listed below Planning Principles

Planning Principles: U.S. Department of Education Criteria

Capsule description of program and process:
      Kent Island High School is a 1200 student technology based school that is located along the Chesapeake Bay on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.  The major concern addressed by the planning committee was centered around creating a facility that becomes a focal point on Kent Island where both the students and the community feel a sense of identity and belonging.  The planning process for Kent Island High School provided a unique forum for community, civic and business leaders, teachers, staff, students, and architects to learn from each other and become partners to accomplish a unified goal.  In the end, the resulting school and design program provided customized, imaginative solutions to school and community goals and objectives.
      The site entry is flanked by ponds and wetlands to emphasize the island nature of the region and to provide an environmental study area for instruction.  The architectural language, expressed by exposed structural steel frame construction and detailing, reflects the nautical character of the Eastern Shore Region.
      The development and refinement of a student Main Street and an interdisciplinary program cluster concept are vehicles which create a sense of community within the entire school.   The building plan is organized around a central Main Street that creates a student and community gathering place.   The instructional areas intersect Main Street with a core circulation loop at an open-air-stair.  Academic/career oriented clusters are grouped to encourage relationships between classes and disciplines, and foster personal growth.

1. How does the project enhance learning (and teaching), and support the needs of all learners?
The design creates a sense of community and provides interdisciplinary cluster teaming with career focuses.  This cluster concept integrates groups of students with facility to create a smaller community feeling within a larger school.  This grouping fosters a sense of identity and belonging.  Each cluster is organized around a decentralized administration area and interdisciplinary planning area where teachers, administrators and students can work together for longer periods and get to know each other.  Such an arrangement will facilitate interdisciplinary teaming opportunistic between academic subjects and career focused programs.  The design allows the academic, career, and technology teachers to be distributed throughout each cluster which utilizes classroom space more efficiently.  This makes the opportunity available to change the educational and teaching setting and program for future curriculums.

2. How does the design reinforce the school as a center of the community?
The design creates a facility that becomes a focal point on Kent Island where both the students and community feel a sense of identity and belonging.  The character of the building’s architectural vocabulary is appropriate to the cultural context of the Eastern Shore Region.  This creates a sense of place with regional identity which reinforces social belonging.  The building plan is organized around a linear Main Street where students  circulate.  The  plan, as a metaphor for the community,  expresses the individual program elements (neighborhoods) creating a more intimate communal  atmosphere within the larger building context.

3. Describe the planning/design process and who was involved.
      The planning process for the school provided a unique forum for community, civic and business leaders, teachers, staff, students, and architects to learn from each other and become partners to accomplish a unified goal.  In the end, the resulting school and design program provided customized, imaginative solutions to school and community goals and objectives.  The planning committee was organized with representation from the community, County  Commissioners, parent volunteers, Board of Education, school teachers, students, construction and maintenance staff, and architects.  Members of the committee were asked to brainstorm in sessions held at convenient times for all members (i.e., students during the day and parents in the evenings).              Site visits were arranged to other recently completed schools for first hand observations of what was being done in other communities.  Educators from around the region and country were brought in to speak to the committee about educational ideas and philosophy.  
       The current county high school teachers, department heads, students and parents were interviewed and asked what they could envision in a school for the twenty first century (they were encouraged to “think outside the box”).  Committee members answered questions about what the school program could be, and what the ideal facility could be like from their point of view.  Above all, meaningful participation by all team members and groups was sought before final decisions were made.

4. How does the project provide for health, safety and security, beyond standard approaches?
The school is divided into “Public” and “private” realms, with the public areas used by visitors and the community  (administration, dining, auditorium and gymnasiums) and the private areas occupied primarily by the students and teachers (classrooms and media center).  The classroom section is further divided into four academic and career oriented clusters (neighborhoods) with decentralized administration areas.  The design is organized around a central, linear student Main Street where supervised core circulation occurs.  Main Street extends through the building neighborhoods creating a clear and simple circulation system connecting each building component and entrances from car parking,  pedestrians, and buses.  Common spaces adjacent to Main Street allow the circulation spaces to serve a dual function.  Large classroom windows with southern exposure and glass curtainwall at Main Street provide bright, spacious, naturally lit interior spaces with views and connections to the exterior so that all who enter feel welcome and secure.

5. How does the project enhance the use of all available resources?
The latest technology  is integrated into every aspect of the instructional program and administrative framework.  The media and technology network hubs are located in the central core of the school directly adjacent to the academic clusters, easily accessible to all instructional spaces.  Also, each instructional space has a technology network that is linked to the media center distribution room.  A network of fiber optic, twisted pair copper wire and coaxial cable contained in a single sheathing distributes information to every educational space in the school.  Various source information on videotape, laser disc, compact disc, or film strip can be ordered and forwarded to any classroom television monitor throughout the school at the request of any instructor.

6. What unique strategies allow for flexibility and adaptability to changing needs?
The classroom section is divided into four academic and career oriented clusters (neighborhoods).  Each neighborhood has multiple classroom types, sizes, project areas and support spaces to provide for alternative flexibility in programs and class sizes.  This encourages a flexible approach to the curriculum which serves the changing educational and community needs, facilitating inquiry and enhancing creativity.

Associate Firms:
Construction Manager or Contractor:  Donohoe Construction Company
Mechanical: D. Brooks Cross, Chartered
Structural:  Wolfman Associates
Landscape: MCrone, Inc.
Kitchen: Nyikos Associates
Technology: KBD Planning Group, Inc.
Lighting, Acoustical, Theater:  Grimm and Parker Architects
Photography: Ken Wyner and Dan Cunningham