atrisco heritage academy high. progress.

from within. 61% complete. using my treo.

Progress photos. 23 April 2008

the new atrisco heritage academy in spring light.

progress photos during march 19, 2008 in situ media event.

progress. 23 jan 08. 10 am.

SWHS Progress Photos [10.31.07]

the site is abuzz with construction activity...

The New Southwest High School- Construction Progress I from aps architect on Vimeo.



photos taken on 10 oct 07.

ground-breaking ceremony photos. 13 sept 2007

construction groundbreaking: september 13, 2007

a groundbreaking ceremony has been scheduled on site for 10:00am on september 13, 2007 to mark the start of the building construction project, the phase I- 9th grade academy. the contract was recently awarded to the lowest bidder, gerald martin general contractor.

the location of the ceremony will be here.

new principal is announced for the new southwest high school.

APS recently announced the selection of the new Principal for the SWHS. Press release here. Karen Sanchez-Griego, former executive director of Engaging Latino Communities for Education (ENLACE) in New Mexico will lead this facility that we are currently constructing.

A brief bio of her here.

New Southwest Mesa High School Scheduled to Open Next Year to 9th-Graders

Andrea Schoellkopf, Journal Staff Writer reports on July 14, 2007:

"The search will continue for a principal for the new Southwest Mesa high school, scheduled to open next year to ninth-graders."

***
"...crews have broken ground in the last month on the southwest campus, preparing the site for construction. That work is expected to begin in September after bids are opened Aug. 2, said Karen Alarid, director of APS facilities planning and construction.

Alarid said dirt is being moved to the future site of a new elementary school on Blake west of Coors, which is "like a bowl" and needs to be filled in. That elementary is tentatively planned to open in the fall of 2009 to relieve Adobe Acres and Navajo elementaries.

The southwest campus, located on the southeast corner of Dennis Chavez and 118th, is being built for 2,200 students and would primarily relieve crowding at West Mesa High.

APS is planning to partner the school with the University of New Mexico, Central New Mexico Community College, the city and Bernalillo County to offer services to the community, in addition to traditional schooling. Such services would include a community health clinic and library that would be available to the public after school hours."

the building site before dirt work looking east. june 2007.

on 118th street [& dennis chavez]. sandia mountains beyond.

CHARACTER SKETCHES OF THE HIGH SCHOOL

view of main entry from the SW corner, from L to R: PAC, Administration, Library/Media Center, Gym.

courtyard view with school entrance and library to the left, academy buildings to the right.

view of the ninth grade academy at fore and the two upper academy buildings in the distance.

PRELIMINARY PHASING PLAN

***Submitted January 25, 2007/ Models and drawings are properties of the Design Team.

SCHEMATIC DESIGN/ SITE PLAN...

***Submitted January 25, 2007/ Models and drawings are properties of the Design Team.

SCHEMATIC DESIGN LEVEL ONE...

***Submitted January 25, 2007/ Models and drawings are properties of the Design Team.

SWHS Proposed Community Boundary

More about the SW Boundary Comittee's work here.

50% SCHEMATIC SITE & BUILDING MODEL

***Models and drawings are properties of the Design Team.

Described as a school of the future, Southwest High School (SWHS), to be located at the corner of Dennis Chavez SW and 118th Street SW, is targeted to welcome its first group of solely freshman students in 2008. In the following years the rest of the students will come in line beginning only with ninth graders, hence it will take four years to fill the school with freshman through senior students. The $90 million structure, to accommodate up to 2200 students, will serve the anticipated growth brought on by new development as well as relieve the overcrowded Rio Grande and West Mesa High schools.

The SWHS visioning session, a whole day affair, was held on July 20, 2006 and attended by the planning committee of APS’s Facilities Design + Construction division, architects, and representative parents and neighborhood members. A visioning session is important as it lays the foundation for the design of a school. The participants explored and discussed the unique needs of students and the community that will be served by this new high school. For example, over half of the students speak Spanish as a main (and home) language. This greatly impacts the school’s culture, curriculum, and non-academic school programs. Participants of the visioning session identified the students’ bilingualism as a strength rather than a weakness, and agreed that the school will encourage the academic and social use of several languages.

“The visioning session included the presentation of case models of high schools from other areas to help illustrate how we may approach our school,” said Roldan Pasion, APS staff architect. “Models were presented for information purposes only; they are not prescribed but rather provide ideas and inform us of our choices and options.” The visioning session spelled out the learning concepts of SWHS and community needs that will drive the school’s design. “We don’t want a generic building,” said Pasion. “The idea is that it be unique and address the needs of the community to be served by the building.”

50% SCHEMATIC SITE & BUILDING MODEL

***Models and drawings are properties of the Design Team.

The needs of the community outlined in the visioning session are many and diverse. Due to its high level of affordable housing, the community of largely multi-cultural young families, many immigrant, lacks a social and economic infrastructure. The area’s residents voiced their wish for a school with joint use opportunities such as community centers, libraries, multi-purpose spaces, and active parent inclusion. From an academic perspective, the school needs to bridge the students to “life beyond” through college prep, technology courses, and laying the foundation toward a chosen career. The visioning session participants presented too many ideas, concepts, and needs to list all, but in summary of the day’s discussions, SWHS will unite all community members and be the light of the south valley. “Through the visioning session, a tremendous commitment was made to make this a 21st century school and value to the students beyond high school and their community, whether that means career or college,” said Wendell Vaughn of Perkins + Will, consultants to the project.

The concept of how a high school is organized and how teachers teach has fundamentally and dramatically changed since a high school was last built in Albuquerque. Education is steadily evolving and teaching methods have merged with constantly changing technology. Teachers and the entire education system have been required to grow and adapt with the reality. It is the intention of the design team that SWHS will incorporate designs that will link the structure to immediate as well as long-term learning.

50% SCHEMATIC SITE & BUILDING MODEL

***Models and drawings are properties of the Design Team.

The Albuquerque firm of Fanning Bard Tatum Architects (FBT), headed by Susan Johnson, will lead the design and manage construction of SWHS. Working under Johnson, the Los Angeles office of Perkins + Will, will provide the basic footprint of SWHS. Specializing in education facilities, their particular expertise is in designing flexible spaces that have dual uses. “We strive to plan and design agile facilities so that they are responsive to changing needs over time,” said Vaughn. They begin from the key principle that design needs to accommodate flexibility and adapt to change in needs and uses. While the two architectural firms have distinctively different roles, they will work collaboratively in building the first high school of this caliber in the State.

The third partner in the design of SWHS is the Chicago firm of Healy Bender & Associates. “Previously engaged to assist with Albuquerque’s Northwest High School (NWHS) to be completed in 2007, Healy Bender will take into consideration their experience and knowledge gleaned from the NWHS project and apply it to the design of SWHS,” said Karen Alarid, director of Facilities Design + Construction for APS. “While the schools will be different, as they are serving different users, much of what we learned in designing NWHS is applicable to building the schools that follow.” Specialists in educational design, they are nationally respected for their applied “thought process” regarding how to build a school. Healy Bender will serve as the data collection arm of the design effort, compiling the seemingly endless demographics in piecing together the entire picture of what the school will be. This includes conducting exhaustive interviews with students, teachers, and others regarding curriculum, schedules, athletics, special interests such as band or drama, clubs, and social needs. While they will make the most of the continuity they created in working on the NWHS project, the unique demographics of the SWHS community presents new design goals. “Our job is thoughtful – fun,” said Mike Griebel of Healy Bender. “We’re helping people uncover their own views and feelings.”

50% SCHEMATIC SITE PLAN- enlarged

***Models and drawings are properties of the Design Team.

Healy Bender’s scope of services for SWHS includes developing individual and overall space summaries and a vision statement regarding how the school will be distinct. Summaries include student enrollment statistics; required classrooms, labs, and other teaching settings such as gyms; required spaces for special education programs; and special studies and findings of research regarding community ideas and key functional relationships to be met in the development of SWHS. Healy Bender will develop detailed programming, such as defining every room in regards to its electrical, mechanical, and height requirements. “We’re also working on a special study regarding community and cultural influences,” said Mike Griebel of Healy Bender. “It’s critical to review unique characteristics that will influence design and construction, as it is our expectation that SWHS will support after hours community activities as well as health community clinics for students and family centers.”

A school can be just a school, serving its purpose of educating students in preparation of adult life, or it can be that and much more. The SWHS visioning session participants concluded that the school will be much more. SWHS will be an active hub for formal and informal study with evening and weekend learning capacity. It will be safe and secure and a positive and powerful gathering place for the community. Much more than a building, SWHS will blend school academics and activities with community function and interaction. “There is currently nothing even remotely like SWHS in Albuquerque,” said Susan Johnson of FBT. The visioning session resulted in a high school that will be for everyone.

SCHEMATIC SITE PLAN

***Models and drawings are properties if the Design Team.