Transcript Project Name

2010 Exhibition of School
Planning and Architecture
Eudora Elementary School
Eudora, Kansas
New Construction
Project of Distinction
DLR Group
Eudora Elementary School
Young learners in Eudora, Kan., go places every day, but not just ordinary places. They
experience every corner of the globe by entering the new Eudora Elementary School.
Eudora Elementary School
Monument Sign
Car Loop
Car Loop
Second
Grade
Third Grade
Future District
Support Facility
Greenway Park System
Fourth
Grade
Fifth Grade
Storm
Detention
Storm
Detention
Eudora
Elementary
School
First Grade
Future
Addition
Existing
Residential
Softball Field
Pedestrian Link
Artificial Turf
Bus Loop
Playground
Soft Play
Softball Field
Baseball Field
Football Practice
Field
Pedestrian Link
Existing Residential
Multi-Purpose
Field
Community Voice Prevails
Community Environment: Eudora, Kan., is a
suburban, bedroom community 30 minutes
southwest of Kansas City. With a lack of
industry in the town, the majority of taxes
are paid by households. In recognition of
this burden on taxpayers, the Eudora School
District seeks opportunities to spend
community funds responsibly and
appropriately.
Members of the Eudora community were
instrumental in the initial planning stages of
the new elementary school. More than a
year before any ballot issue was placed
before voters, dozens of stakeholders –
parents, patrons, teachers, and
administrators – gathered to discuss the
types of facilities that would best meet the
need of the community and its children. In
the case of Eudora Elementary, this
Community Advisory Committee (CAC)
expressed two major concerns that
ultimately guided the design process:
EQUITY and future GROWTH.
Eudora Elementary School is a great example of a building that
meets diverse community, facility and budgetary needs, while
making student learning the absolute top priority.
--Don Grosdidier, Superintendent
Equity. Growth.
Community Environment: EQUITY. Members
of the CAC wanted a school large enough to
accommodate all children in elementary
grades. In a small community such as
Eudora, they feared that having
“neighborhood” schools – individual K-5
buildings with attendance boundaries –
would create tension, resentment and
unfairness between different areas within
the community. A single attendance center
for all students in grades 1-5, however,
would ensure that every Eudora child
benefited from the same caliber of teacher,
facility and opportunity.
GROWTH. The CAC requested the new
elementary school be built on a scale that
would suit the community’s continued
growth for many years. Community
members were adamant that they not be
asked again in 3, 5 or 8 years, to pass bonds
for another new school. This influenced not
only the size of the existing building, but
also the decision to masterplan a future
sixth pod, if it should be needed in the
future.
The building allows for a lot of students but you notice
the quietness at the same time!!!
--Becky Topil, First Grade Teacher
Personal, Inviting
Community Environment:
While these community desires – for one
school that was large enough to
accommodate future growth – required a
large facility, the CAC drew up one final
requirement: that the new school feel
personal and individual for every student. In
a small town, nobody was excited about the
idea of having a big school for elementary
students with long hallways and an
impersonal, institutional feel. Community
and staff members, alike, believed that the
new building needed to be designed in such
a way that even the youngest of students
felt connected and insulated from the
potentially impersonal scale of a larger
building.
In addition to other district-wide projects,
the elementary school was funded through a
$45 million bond referendum in Nov. 2007.
Trendsetters
Community Environment: The 30-person
Community Advisory Committee (CAC)
involved Community Representatives, the
Superintendent, Administration, Parents
and Teachers. This group determined one
large community school would be more
efficient to operate, and would decrease
the number of transitions students would
make from school to school throughout
their career at Eudora School District.
Together with the design team, the CAC
set out to tour large elementary schools in
the Kansas City and surrounding area,
however they had difficulties finding
elementary schools that housed 1,000
students.
The CAC and Eudora administration seized
an opportunity to be a trendsetting
district and build one large school for the
entire elementary school population. They
realized the key to the success of the
school was the design, and began to focus
on the solution.
Nimble Design
Community Environment:
The CAC defined the following Guiding Principles
for the design solution:
• Simple, kid-friendly design
• Small learning communities
• Overall theme to engage students in learning
• Collaboration
• Inner space
• Flexibility of group gathering spaces
The result is a nimble, flexible design that can
evolve to meet the needs of Eudora students for
decades. The new 130,000-square foot school is
designed around a small learning community
(SLC) concept to reduce the scale of the school for
young students.
Currently Eudora Elementary School has five SLCs,
each supporting 200 students. The SLCs are
occupied by students in a single grade level, but
could be organized to accommodate multiple
grade levels in the future.
I appreciate having all of our 1st grade rooms
so close together. We can team teach and have
rotations for many different activities.
--Becky Topil, First Grade Teacher
Oh the Places You’ll Go!
Learning Environment: The creative inspiration
driving design development was the child-favorite
Dr. Seuss’ Oh the Places You’ll Go! In his beloved
story, Dr. Seuss encourages his readers to find the
success that lies within. Designers agreed this is
the perfect concept for an elementary school
design, setting the stage for our future generation
of leaders.
Using Dr. Seuss’ Oh the Places You’ll Go as
inspiration, designers wanted to:
• Raise awareness of unique worldly
environments; and
• Incorporate the “world” into the building design
Ecosystems are the overarching theme of the
school. Unique biomes give identity to each of the
five SLCs, provide wayfinding inside the school
and incorporate learning within students’ daily
environment. The biomes include: Arctic,
Aquatic, Desert, Rain Forest and Savanna.
The diverse “biome” interior finishes help students
immediately and personally identify with their
small learning communities.
--Don Grosdidier, Superintendent
Worldly Environments
Learning Environment: A school’s primary purpose
is to facilitate education and engage students in
learning, and this ecosystem-themed school
enhances learning opportunities around every
corner. As students travel through the school they
discover each biome independently. They cannot
see a biome from within another, which allows
students to become fully immersed in their unique
surroundings.
The building is a learning tool through creative
finishes, fixtures and furnishings exhibiting the
world’s unique environments. All materials,
textures and colors play off each specific biome.
For instance, the Aquatics SLC features blues and
greens to emulate water and sea life; while the
Desert SLC highlights yellows and golds to
represent sand and sun.
At the beginning of the year we talked about the
different ecosystems that each pod had. The
children identified where they needed to be with
this common language.
--Becky Topil, First Grade Teacher
Discover, Learn, Play
Learning Environment: All shared-use areas,
such as Administration, Media Center, MultiPurpose Gymnasium, and Commons have
direct access from each SLC.
SLCs include 10 classrooms, a discovery area,
restrooms, and an special education suite.
The discovery areas, which feature high
ceilings to simulate the sky, sun, and foliage,
also have a raised platform in the center to
encourage interactive and playful learning.
A wet zone with sinks and hard surfaces in
the discovery area encourages students
from multiple classrooms to work on shared
projects. The perimeter of the discovery
area has decorative tack wall panels in
shapes to represent water, ice, desert sand,
and trees.
Each SLC also includes a Teacher Planning
Center to facilitate teacher collaboration in
planning curriculum and activities. Mobile
technology carts provide teachers the
freedom to move resources from room to
room.
Handprints
Learning Environment: Designers
incorporated the building’s young users
in the design by using photocopies of
students’ hands to graphically display
the world’s continents on glazing
between the media center and entry
corridor.
The students selected for the handprint
display are part of the first class that
will travel through the entire school,
from first to fifth grade. At each end of
the map are inspirational quotes from
Dr. Seuss – “Oh the Places You’ll Go!”
and “Kid You’ll Move Mountains!”
Every where you look there is
a teaching moment. The school is
beautiful; it is a point of pride for
the students, staff and community.
--Jan Irby, Principal
Neighborhood
Physical Environment - The school is
nestled within an existing residential
neighborhood and borders a greenway
park system. A future district support
facility is planned for the site.
Pick-up and drop-off loops can
accommodate 95 cars at once, all with
direct access to sidewalks in front of
the school.
Outdoor courtyards separate the small
learning communities and provide
enhanced outdoor learning
opportunities for students.
Exterior materials include metal panels
and face brick.
Take a Seat
Physical Environment Textured wall panels and colored
etched glass introduce the SLC
biome theme, while benches at
each entrance allow places for
students to interact.
A storm shelter able to withstand
winds up to 250 mph is located in
the middle of the building
commons area. FEMA provided
funds for 75 percent of the storm
shelter costs.
Responsible Design
Physical Environment –
Sustainable Elements
Designers oriented classrooms East and West to allow
for North/South daylighting opportunities. Natural
daylight is drawn into the corridors, discovery areas,
media center and commons area.
Occupancy sensors and lighting relay panels reduce
lighting loads.
The HVAC system utilizes a heat pump and conventional
chiller for an energy efficient solution.
Large volume spaces, such as the gymnasium, commons
and media center, are internal to the building, resulting
in a more energy efficient solution.
Inspiration
Planning Process: Seven members of
the design team individually
researched possible themes for the
new Eudora Elementary School over
the course of two weeks. They each
reviewed past school designs within
the firm’s portfolio, read expert
articles about how school design
enhances the learning environment,
and searched for inspiration within
their every day surroundings.
Together, this group narrowed the
options to two possible themes,
including unique neighborhoods and
ecosystems. They presented the final
two possible themes to the Eudora
Design Committee (EDC). The EDC
comprised a smaller, select group
from the Community Advisory
Committee, including the District’s
Superintendent, School Principal,
teachers and other key administrators.
I was completely surprised how much the designers really took into
consideration what we wanted. It makes me even more excited because
I see my ideas actually being used. The designers have done a good job
of including us and making sure the design is exactly what we want and
what’s going to work with us.
-- Emily Sorenson, First Grade Teacher
Themes Enhance Learning
Planning Process: Designers and the EDC
held two brainstorming sessions to
determine which theme was more
appropriate for young students, as well as
creative ways to incorporate the theme
into the school. This collaborative process
resulted in ecosystems as the overarching
theme of the school.
Next, designers and the EDC identified
the five biomes they felt students could
relate to and learn from: Arctic, Aquatic,
Desert, Rain Forest and Savanna.
Eudora Elementary School’s interior
design solution enhances student
learning and understanding of geographic
regions and climates. The biomes
transparently divide the 1,000-student
school into five, 200-student elementary
schools to encourage student-teacher
interaction and small group learning. The
key to this concept is the strong interior
design which identifies and differentiates
each SLC.
Second Grade SLC
Third Grade SLC
Administration
Media Center
Fourth Grade SLC
First Grade SLC
Gymnasium
Fifth Grade SLC
Commons
Future Addition SLC
Kitchen
Floor plan
Floor plan
Rain Forest: Third Grade Small Learning Community Detail
Classrooms
SLC Entrance/Exit
Third Grade SLC
Rain Forest
Discovery Area
Teacher Planning
Center
Classrooms
Exhibition of School Planning and Architecture
2010 Project Data
Submitting Firm :
Project Role
Project Contact
Title
Address
City, State or Province, Country
Phone
DLR Group
Architect of Record
Jim French
Senior Principal
7290 W. 133rd St.
Overland Park, KS 66213
913-897-7811
Joint Partner Firm:
Project Role
Project Contact
Title
Address
City, State or Province, Country
Phone
Other Firm:
Project Role
Project Contact
Title
Address
City, State or Province, Country
Phone
Construction Firm:
Project Role
Project Contact
Title
Address
City, State or Province, Country
Phone
Universal Construction
General Contractor
John Shortall
Vice President
11200 West 79th Street
Lenexa, KS 66214
913-342-1150
Exhibition of School Planning and Architecture
2010 Project Details
Project Name
Eudora Elementary School
City
Eudora
State
Kansas
District Name
Eudora USD No. 491
Supt/President
Don Grosdidier
Occupancy Date
August 2009
Grades Housed
1-5
Capacity(Students)
1,000
Site Size (acres)
46.58 acres
Gross Area (sq. ft.)
130,000
Per Occupant(pupil)
130/student
gross/net please indicate
Gross
Design and Build?
If yes, Total Cost:
Includes:
If no,
Site Development:
$1,613,000
Building Construction:
$17,773,000
Fixed Equipment:
$532,000
Other:
Total:
$19,918,000