John Paul II High School

Narratives

Architect Narrative

This project is a new, 1200 student, four-year, private Catholic high school in a suburban setting. The elemental design concept is to provide a facility that supports choices in instructional delivery strategies ranging from a traditional departmental grade level school to project based, multi-grade level teams. The design creates four academic houses of 300 students each that will contain three, 100-student teams including instructors and counselors.

Two separate two-story buildings containing multi-purpose classrooms (all with large exterior windows), integrated with faculty offices and work areas, counseling center and student commons areas, define the academic houses. A two-story science facility, arts center and library/multi-media complex are directly connected to facilitate multi-disciplinary instruction for all four houses. At the center of each house is a faculty center that is home base for all instructional staff. These are designed to foster the synergy of academic teaming. The entire campus is configured for wireless networking which supports a notebook computer-based learning program for every student and staff member.

Each major program component is separately articulated to reinforce the concept of a school within a school, reducing the scale into smaller “family units”. Because of this, each function can be designed, unencumbered by the physical or functional requirements of another program. Each area can then also evolve and grow with less impact on other programs. Physically separate elements have allowed for incremental funding, which has in turn supported individual donations and naming opportunities. The visually separate parts of the building help create a reduced neighborhood-appropriate scale. And separating program elements allows improved separation and security for after-hours use.

The most prominent element of the project is the central rotunda, designed as the spiritual heart of the school. Each day every student will pass through this space and every visitor will be introduced to the school through the rotunda. The ecclesiastical scale, articulation and special construction materials of the rotunda, unite the project with a spiritual thread that ties all the educational programs, the activities and the students and staff themselves together in an expression of the common mission of the school.

In 1996, visioning sessions began to define the mission and program for the first high school built by the Catholic Diocese of this city in more than fifty years. With an historically traditional and conservative approach to education, the Diocese sought input from many points of view. Religious leaders, parishioners, educators from both inside and outside the Diocese, community leaders, architects and other consultants all contributed to craft the framework for this school. A design that would be reflective and responsive to the unique requirements of different contributors and programs truly began in these sessions. The process of bringing consensus to many visions for this new school was a struggle that was worth the effort. This inclusive process not only ignited an energy that has been maintained throughout the six years of this project, but it has fostered the necessary support from a broad and varied constituency.