For juniors and seniors of the Natrona County School System in Casper, Wyo., the Pathways Innovation Center, a newly built high school, offers a 38-acre campus comprising four academies focused on multiple disciplines to help students explore possible career paths. The beating heart of the Pathways Innovation Center is Fabrication Hall, a 5,000-sf common space flanked on all sides by technology-focused labs. The two-story hall was inspired by private sector facilities, such as Boeing’s complex in Washington state, that house their engineering and design teams under one roof.
The hall offers bountiful natural light with enough space to build large-scale projects. Included in the hall are 16-foot-high, custom-fabricated glass bay doors that fully open to the outside. In order to inspire collaboration, the hall, and the activities taking place within it, can be viewed from surrounding glass-walled design spaces. A “floating blue box” is used for informal learning and overlooks the hall.
By having a common space for a variety of disciplines—construction, woodworking, metals, welding, robotics, arts, furniture making—students learn cross-collaboration.
“It’s an incubator for prototyping,” says Scott Krenner, Design Lead, Education, with Cuningham Group, which designed the school in conjunction with MOA Architecture. Also on the team: Martin/Martin (SE), Engineering Design Associates (MEP), Civil Engineering Professionals (CE), D.L. Adams (acoustics), and Groathouse Construction (GC).
Photo courtesy of Cuningham Group.
Photo courtesy of Cuningham Group.
Related Stories
| May 18, 2011
One of Delaware’s largest high schools seeks LEED for Schools designation
The $82 million, 280,000-sf Dover (Del.) High School will have capacity for 1,800 students and feature a 900-seat theater, a 2,500-seat gymnasium, and a 5,000-seat football stadium.
| May 17, 2011
Sustainability tops the syllabus at net-zero energy school in Texas
Texas-based firm Corgan designed the 152,200-sf Lady Bird Johnson Middle School in Irving, Texas, with the goal of creating the largest net-zero educational facility in the nation, and the first in the state. The facility is expected to use 50% less energy than a standard school.
| May 16, 2011
USGBC and AIA unveil report for greening K-12 schools
The U.S. Green Building Council and the American Institute of Architects unveiled "Local Leaders in Sustainability: A Special Report from Sundance," which outlines a five-point national action plan that mayors and local leaders can use as a framework to develop and implement green schools initiatives.
| May 10, 2011
Greenest buildings: K-12 and commercial markets
Can you name the nation’s greenest K-12 school? How about the greenest commercial building? If you drew a blank, don’t worry because our friends at EarthTechling have all the information on those two projects. Check out the Hawai’i Preparatory Academy’s Energy Lab on the Big Island and Cascadia Green Building Council’s new Seattle headquarters.
| Mar 15, 2011
Passive Strategies for Building Healthy Schools, An AIA/CES Discovery Course
With the downturn in the economy and the crash in residential property values, school districts across the country that depend primarily on property tax revenue are struggling to make ends meet, while fulfilling the demand for classrooms and other facilities.
| Feb 23, 2011
“School of Tomorrow” student design competition winners selected
The American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) and Kawneer Company, Inc. announced the winners of the “Schools of Tomorrow” student design competition. The Kawneer-sponsored competition, now in its fifth year, challenged students to learn about building materials, specifically architectural aluminum building products and systems in the design of a modern and creative school for students ranging from kindergarten to sixth grade. Ball State University’s Susan Butts was awarded first place and $2,500 for “Propel Elementary School.”
| Feb 15, 2011
LAUSD commissions innovative prefab prototypes for future building
The LA Unified School District, under the leadership of a new facilities director, reversed course regarding prototypes for its new schools and engaged architects to create compelling kit-of-parts schemes that are largely prefabricated.
| Feb 9, 2011
Gen7 eco-friendly modular classrooms are first to be CHPS verified
The first-ever Gen7 green classrooms, installed at Bolsa Knolls Middle School in Salinas, California, have become the nation's first modular classrooms to receive Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) Verified recognition for New School Construction. They are only the second school in California to successfully complete the CHPS Verified review process.
| Dec 17, 2010
Alaskan village school gets a new home
Ayagina’ar Elitnaurvik, a new K-12 school serving the Lower Kuskikwim School District, is now open in Kongiganak, a remote Alaskan village of less than 400 residents. The 34,000-sf, 12-classroom facility replaces one that was threatened by river erosion.
| Dec 6, 2010
Honeywell survey
Rising energy costs and a tough economic climate have forced the nation’s school districts to defer facility maintenance and delay construction projects, but they have also encouraged districts to pursue green initiatives, according to Honeywell’s second annual “School Energy and Environment Survey.”
