Middle school plans close to being final

Updated plans for Kalispell Junior High's makeover into a middle school got their latest airing in front of the school board recently.

With a slanted-roof auditorium/cafeteria/music addition alongside a new commons area at the front of the school, plus a new gym to the west and a bank of classrooms enclosing a fresh-air courtyard to the northeast, the design presents a striking new look for the building.

It's the eighth generation of drawings for the reconfigured and enlarged school, a $10.9 million project approved by voters last November.

Don Counsell with Architects Northwest, the Kalispell firm working on the school, brought project designer Steve Miller from Minneapolis to town for the presentation.

It followed a series of meetings with staff and building committee members to refine it once again for their needs and the school's budget.

Miller said the new design addressed one big concern voiced by the staff - preserving the bank of south-facing windows to bring in as much natural light as possible. Original plans posed the prospect of obscuring those classroom windows with the new construction.

But by shifting the auditorium/cafeteria/music addition to the northwest and placing the single-story commons area between them and the existing building, the windows and the existing bus loop remain.

The south wall of the principal's office would be replaced with glass, giving nearly full view from there into the length of the commons and into the stepped-down cafeteria/auditorium. The current attached guidance and nurse/study skills room would be remodeled for special education.

A pair of band and choir rooms open onto the commons at the northwest end.

That commons would open on its west end to the old gym, with a canopy outside the door offering a student gathering area. On the east, a similar canopy would run parallel with the northwest stretch of the bus loop driveway.

Farther downslope from the front of the building and bus loop, one-way traffic would allow parents to enter from the south, drop off students at the front of the school and exit to the west. Parking lot entry points would be available only on the north and west.

Two tiers of parking lots would be located at the rear of the school, to the north and east. The upper lot would empty onto Wedgewood Drive.

With about an eight-foot height difference from the commons entry up to the principal's office, steps and elevators would provide general and handicap access.

The classroom addition to the northeast would include three pods of four classrooms and a common "porch," or teaching/project area, with lockers dedicated to those students. It is planned for the sixth grade.

Eighth grade would be situated immediately south and west, encompassing the circular wing and retaining the first-floor science area. Seventh grade would be grouped along the hallway to the north and west.

A new 9,000-square-foot gym would be connected directly west of the current circular gym wing and would include one regulation court with two cross-courts.

The current tiered-floor choir and band rooms would be converted for health classrooms and another use yet to be assigned. The nearby kitchen becomes a girls' locker room.

At each point where new construction connects significantly to the existing building, fire, electrical and ventilation upgrades are planned.

With an $8.5 million tab on the planned construction and remodeling, plus options that run close to $1 million, and an 8 percent project contingency, Miller and Counsell figured the total figure would run about $11,902,000 at this point.

As a result, a list of possible options to include will need to be trimmed, Miller told the trustees.

Heaters, fire sprinkling and windows will be decided as the project progresses.

After Miller's presentation, the school board accepted the schematic design and authorized Architects Northwest to develop the final design.

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com