Odessa High School Project
Odessa High School Project
Construction at OHS will get underway in January. It is a very complicated project because it is in the middle of the neighborhood, so it will be broken down into four separate phases.
Phase I starts with a new two-story science building. It will be built on the site where the “north vocation” building now sits. That building will be torn down and replaced by a new state-of-the-art science facility. In the architect’s rendering (below) you can see classroom spaces are built around the lab spaces. This design allows us to use lab space more efficiently because it can be used by one class while another is working in a classroom. On the second floor there will also be space for teacher offices and collaboration.
The second part of Phase I is the construction of new athletics locker rooms on the south end of the campus (floor plan below). These will create space for the addition of freshmen in 2015.
Phase 2 will be the building of a two-story academic wing right next to the new science building. This portion of the project will also include the demolition of some old “vocational/instructional” spaces.
Phase 3 includes renovations and improvements to the current building; things like changing of spaces, work rooms and collaboration space.
Phase 4 is a new auditorium for OHS. This is important to OHS and to the District since we currently do not have a large auditorium space for district-wide or community events. It will be in front of the building, and will define the main entrance of OHS.
You will also notice a couple of other things from the design. Foremost is the way vehicle and pedestrian traffic is handled. With the new auditorium and enhanced front entrance student parking will be moved to the back of the campus, and the flow of traffic will come from 10th Street instead of the neighborhood as it does now. Entry to the school can be controlled more closely at both the front and back of the school. Bus traffic will also be diverted to the back (west side of campus) and the current bus mall in the middle of campus will be converted to an attractive pedestrian mall.
The Big to Small discussion led both high schools to continue to develop the“corral” and “den” concepts they began three years ago. In these final drawings you see the areas designated as corrals – six of them – three on the first floor and three on the second floor. Each corral will house most of the classes for a specific set of students – approximately 650 in each one. Each corral will also have its own teacher work area, teacher lounge, and administrative offices for secretaries, clerks, counselors, and assistant principals. Students will leave those areas of campus for science classes, fine arts, athletics, and perhaps other special programs. The idea is to create the feel of a smaller school on a larger campus.