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.”