Silver Creek High School

Narratives

Architect Narrative

When presented with the opportunity to program, design, and build the first new high school in 23 years, one of the key goals of the school district was to engage the community and open the lines of communications with citizens and district personnel alike. Citizens of the town quickly understood that if they wanted to be a part of the development of the new high school, they could, and they did. This good faith effort made by the school district cultivated community trust and garnered widespread support for the new high school project.

Community involvement was key in the development of the High School’s programmatic needs, functional arrangement, and aesthetic identity. A collaborative effort began in May 1998, with a series of design workshops. A representative for the School District, stated “the goal of the District was aimed at creating an educational village that places the High School at the cutting edge of educational programming, technology, and design. A school that would carry the banner of the District into the 21st century.” The programming effort began with the formation of a “Design Advisory Group” (DAG) to help facilitate the formation of a high school program that not only would respond to current program needs, but would also focus on the programs and curriculum of the future. The DAG consisted of school officials, educators, students, parents, and citizens of the community. As a result of this dynamic collaboration, the High School was developed with the goals of the “community” in mind, furthering a sense of community pride, ownership, and social responsibility.

The design had to be responsive to the educational requirements challenged by the 21st century. The concept of flexible learning environments was essential in achieving many of the goals established by the Design Advisory Group. Flexibility has been designed throughout the entire facility, allowing the building to accept and respect diverse educational paradigms both now and in the future.

Twelve Hundred (1,200) students are engaged in learning within four general instruction clusters, or communities. Specialty courses, such as 2-D and 3-D Visual Arts, Physics, Chemistry, Computer Technologies, and Consumer and Family Studies make up a fifth instructional community. The learning spaces within each community offer a variety of flex spaces for small, medium, or large group learning. Operable walls open individual classrooms into larger learning environments, and small group rooms facilitate more focused group interaction. The design of the high school was based on the School District’s educational philosophy of interdisciplinary learning; the creation of such a flexible learning environment fosters the opportunity for the building to adapt to a departmental mode of instruction. Technology is integrated throughout the entire facility, allowing the students to gather information in any location in the school. The instruction clusters are centrally located for easy access to the library media center, administrative offices, and student commons.

The athletic complex and performing arts center act as bookends to the facility. A circulation spine called the “crescent” connects the clusters, and ancillary functions throughout the building. The two-story crescent wraps through each cluster, or wing, of the building, and contributes to the definition of an outdoor “community plaza.” The idea of the crescent was to provide more than just a means of getting from point a to point b, but to create an experiential journey as one passes through the school.

The community plaza provides clearly defined access to the main entry tower, athletic lobby, and the performing arts gallery. The plaza provides a dynamic student gathering space for performances or outdoor instruction, as well as an intermission breakout area for performing arts or athletic events. The community plaza is an ideal pallet for students and local artists to display three-dimensional outdoor art, which heightens the community’s sense of ownership and pride.

Full and extensive site amenities are provided in the forms of physical recreation and regulation athletic fields. Two soccerphysical education fields, six tennis courts, two basketball courts, a regulation football field, two baseball fields, a softball field, and a running track make up the wide range of site opportunities for students and the community. A concession building is centrally located for easy access from all fields.

The importance of achieving a school “identity” was one of the most challenging design goals of the project. The aesthetic focused on the local context and culture of the city and the surrounding areas. Based on the numerous turn-of-the-century agricultural villages present, the school was modeled to convey the charm of “The Village.” The community plaza is used as the stage, or foreground, of the composition. Forms and images of the past are created along the perimeter of the plaza; the classroom houses, main entry tower, administration/ library rotunda, and circulation crescent all work in unison to create the identity of an “Educational Village.”

The High School is testament to the successes shared when education and community visions are orchestrated in a collaborative manner. A representative concluded by saying, “From the onset of the design process the theme has been a community school. The entire community is extremely excited and looking forward to the successful students that come from such a top-notch learning environment.” With the strength of community involvement and support, school districts will be empowered to develop top-level learning environments for something we are all interested in - the future of our children.