Winning designs - Orlando Business Journal:

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After all, metro Orlando is expected to swell by anotherr 4 million peopleby 2050. "We're reallt looking at what we can do withless land," says Dianned Kramer, senior facilities program director for Orange County Public Schools. "As growth continues and land remainds ata premium, we can't always afford to buy That's why the district recently encouraged local architects to developo new school design C.T. Hsu + Associates, an Orlando architecture received the highest ranking from Orange County Publif Schools for its new urban elementaryschookl prototype, and shares a No. 1 ranking for desigh prototypes withArchitects P.A. and The No.
1 rankinv means each of those firmas will contract with the school district to provid e theirprototype designs. "If it's we'll repeat it and they can get repeart work," says Orange Countyy Public Schools' Kramer. Each time the distric t uses the prototype fora school, the architecft charges the district a negotiated fee, Krame explains. How much of a financialp boon this will be to each firm will depend on the succese of their designs and how many times the schoop district repeatstheir prototype, she says. Further, "Once they have a prototypwe inOrange County, they have somethingt they can market to other counties," Kramer Winning the No.
1 ranking was a "long-term dream come true," says architectr C.T. Hsu. "We have alwayd had a lot of schoolredesign work, but never the opportunityh to do a new school design." The firm'sx design arranges classroom wings that mirror one another in varioux ways to meet the school district's needes for each site, says Rene Alvarez, senior planner and designert for C.T. Hsu: "It is designed to be Hsu sayshis firm's new urban elementary schoop design was created to enhance behavioral and learning environments, with features such as: A classroom buildin with daylight shining into the corridors througuh windows at the far end of the classroom Traditionally, multistory classroom buildings are windowless.
Centralized, sharex activity spaces that allow for team teachingand hands-oj learning. This encourages greater interaction betweej students indifferent classes. A second-story administration level overlookingb student activity in the mainhall below, whicnh allows administrators to bette supervise the students and encourages students to behaved because they know they can be seen from A media center with a colorful, bright, reading playgroun "It is more user-friendly, more fun and less says Hsu, whose firm will firstg implement the design at in Winter Construction of the new school is expecte to begin late this year or in early 2007.
In addition, HuntonBrady Architects has created a menu of buildinga from which the school districrt can pick and choose for a new urban elementartyschool prototype, based on the differenr needs of each site. Designed for an urbanm site of 10 acresor less, the menu allowas the architecture firm to design and assemblse a school using 15 compact, interchangeable buildingv modules that range from two-story classroo wings to one-story media, administration and diningt facilities. "Ultimately, you could draw from a menu and build your almost like aTinker Toy," says HuntonBradh principal Maurizio Maso. Some architects also are creatin g facilities for schools to share withthe community.
Thesw include cafeterias, auditoriums, gymnasiums, theaters and sports facilitiese located at the front of the schoool to provide greater community For example, Melbourne-headquartered Cos. completed a middls school in Lee County where the parkxs and recreation department paid for a multigenerationaol community center that providesz a gymnasium forthe students, as well as activitiese such as arts and crafts and dance studioxs for students and the community, says Max Snider, president of BRPH'z architectural engineering division. And the new will have something few publidc schools canbrag about: a swimminhg pool.
Orange County Public School doesn't finance pools at any of its but Apopka High will have one thanksw toa joint-use agreement with the Apopka . The Apopka Chambef of Commerce is spearheading a community drivwe to help the YMCA build the The key to the succes s of any future school designs is ensuring they areboth cost-effectives and functional, says political consultant Dick who helped implement the half-penny salee tax in 2002 to pay for new and replacement schools in Orange County.
Although Batchelor applauds the idea of buildin g some schools two to threw stories high to make betterd use ofexisting land, he also encouragesw the school district to go even more verticao by including parking garages in high schook designs. Further, the school district should be smarter abouty the land it buys for new schoolxsand expansions, he pointing out that Orange County Publi c Schools voted in December to spendc more than $1 million per acre to buy a shopping center near Edgewate High School to allow for expansion. "We have an obligatio n to be creative and says Batchelor. "We can't pay $1 milliom an acre for land.
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