JK-12

St. Cecilia Catholic School is part of a new subdivision community, known as Belterra Estates / Treetops, located on the east side of Alliston, Ontario.

In addition to serving this community, the school will play a key role in relieving over population at three nearby catholic elementary schools. This new school will support students, families, and the community with Catholic Education for grades JK through 8 and have a capacity of 470 students. The school also includes a 49 space Childcare Facility (one Infant Room, one Toddler Room, and one Preschool Room).

The mandate for the new St. Cecilia Catholic School was to provide a school layout based upon programmatic layout and design standards for recent Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board (SMCDSB) new build projects. However, faced with cost escalation challenges in the marketplace, this new design underwent extensive value engineering to reduce costs and come in on budget without sacrificing academic opportunity and construction quality. The re-design incorporates the following principles into the facility:

• Clear plan organization
• Efficient space and circulation planning
• Barrier free design for accessibility throughout
• Chapel space as a primary focal point of the design integrated into the Learning Commons space
• Integrated Childcare Facility
• Low maintenance, quality materials used throughout
• 3 Mechanical HVAC options prepared for Cost Estimate comparison

The main entrance, lobby and gathering area are located near the midpoint of the main corridor intersections. This is the focus of the school. This is where there will be a direct connection to the Chapel, Learning Commons, School Office and Gymnasium. This is envisioned as the heart of the school with the double height entry space creating a clear identity for the building and its users.

Windsor Catholic Central High School is a new 2-storey secondary school with oversized student commons for multi-purpose uses, large double gymnasium and 21^st Century learning spaces throughout designed to encourage collaboration.

This is the first Ontario high school designed to respond to a post-pandemic environment. The efficiency of the design resulted in the gross area of the school being 20% under the Ministry standards without compromising any of the program spaces. The Library area was kept to a minimum to allow a bigger student learning commons to be developed, which will facilitate physical distancing. By starting on site in late 2020, the contractor had 20 months to complete the project.

+VG designed an efficient two-storey narrow linear building to suit the narrow rectangular site. To minimize the cut and full work required on the sloping site, the building was located in the middle of site at the point where the cut and fill balanced out.

The Owner required an economical design. The +VG design solution was to build a load bearing masonry structure with precast second floor system. Roof top mechanical equipment was chosen primarily for low capital cost.

Mechanical units are complete with heat recovery. The tinted windows all contain premium low emissivity film to reduce solar heat gain.

+VG identified several “Extraordinary Cost” Items and the Ministry provided additional funding for them over the funding formula.

+VG Developed an extremely efficient floor plan cutting 10,000 ft² off target area per Ministry standard.

+VG included several separate prices and alternate price items in order to have some flexibility to tailor the tender contract value to match the funding available while maximizing the value for the owner.

This project, for the CEPEO (French School Board) in Ottawa, was successfully completed on schedule. The program involves an eight classroom addition creating an additional 184 pupil-places.

Classroom design was optimized and flexible in case of under utilized rooms. The addition incorporates rhythms of glass ranging in primary colours to add interest to the new classrooms and create a sense of playfulness.

Low maintenance, durable materials reinforce the sustainability of this highly efficient building, while fostering a connection to the natural surroundings. Construction proceeded with minimal impact on the school grounds and the environment.

Changes made to the scope of work were requested by the client to increase program space. +VG responded promptly and provided increased program designs during contract administration, as well as coordination with the General Contractors to ensure this work was implemented.

The design of this new school required a compact footprint to allow for the development of two full-sized play fields which will be shared-use with the City of Waterloo.

The solution was a partial three-storey plan at the street corner with a two-storey section for the kindergartens and gymnasium areas.

The image/style was developed to emphasize the cutting-edge modernity of Waterloo – home of BlackBerry, the Perimeter Institute, University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University, and many high-technology businesses. Major components of the school include:

• Library and Maker Lab
• Full size (double) gym
• Administration offices
• Music classroom
• Science and Technology classroom
• Special Education classrooms
• Seminar Rooms
• Pod style classroom layout
• Structure to support future or planned solar panels
• Structural design to support future additions
• Exterior landscaping

Design of this new consolidated school is based on a “World Cafe” consultation and information gathering process with the three school community stakeholders as well as board representatives.

The architectural design for the new school involves a three-storey structure with outdoor access on two levels. The sloping topography allows the building’s second floor level to be situated at grade on the west side where the main entrance, drop-off route and parking lot are located. Sloping topography also allows first floor level access at grade on the building’s east side to all of the school’s athletic facilities. Building wings feature primary programs: theatre arts in the north wing and gymnasia in the south wing.

In 2010, the Limestone District School Board completed a comprehensive ARC process and Condition Assessments of the family of schools surrounding the Sharbot Lake Community.

To address significant declining enrollment, the Board embarked on a plan to merge three existing Elementary Schools and the Sharbot Lake High School into a single, new K–12 facility.

The new school is located on the site of the existing high school, and while the 54,000 m² site at first appeared large enough to easily support this new building, steep terrain, natural wetlands, and existing development restricted the new building to a limited footprint.

The resulting design was a three-storey school building with a second floor gymnasium that pushes into a treed limestone hillside. The academic wing was organized with Kindergartens on the ground floor, elementary classrooms on the second floor, and secondary classrooms occupying the upper floor. Because of the rural nature of Sharbot Lake, the School Board recognized the new facility would function as a community hub as part of the design process. +VG engaged community stakeholders, such as the Sharbot Lake Little Theatre, to ensure the design could accommodate these needs, as well as the academic needs of the Limestone District School Board.

+VG Architects successfully facilitated a series of design meetings, cognizant of the underlying tensions still present as a result of the many difficult decisions the committee had to make during the ARC process. Building a trust relationship with the committee first by acknowledging their difficult work to date, and then focusing on the opportunities ahead, was key to the success of the Schematic Design process.

This project required the continuous operation of three school buildings on site during construction and demolition after construction was occupied.

The school design is based on a variation of the cross-shaped prototype +VG developed in response to the guidelines of the Ministry of Education. The circulation layout features a large lobby which ties the wings together and provides direct access to the Administration Office and Library areas. The large lobby area also provides a warm welcome for all visitors and a place for informal collaboration and fellowship.

The basic design enhances security by eliminating hidden corners. The entrances and parking lot are well-lit and there is good wall lighting provided to enhance security.

The drop-off and pick-up area is laid out to be closest to the parking lots, minimizing the distance between these “kiss n’ ride” zones and the daycare entrances and exists. This maximizes the supervision of these zones, thereby increasing the security of children being picked up and dropped off. Simultaneously, this expedites the time spent by parents dropping off or picking up their children from the daycare facility, which in turn substantially reduces vehicular congestion.