St. Rose Parish School - Longview, Washington
By: Jennifer Walker-Journey
St. Rose Parish School in Longview, Washington, had been through a lot in the school’s 59-year history. Operated by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, the K-8 school enjoyed abundant enrollment of more than 400 students before dropping to a record low attendance of 118 in the 1970s. When enrollment sagged, there had been discussion to close the school. But, St. Rose Parish vowed to work tirelessly to keep the school running. In an effort to keep the school doors open, grades six, seven, and eight were dropped, only to be reinstated after a 1994 fundraising campaign.
As the school approached its 60th anniversary, the lean times were far behind it. More than 200 students were attending the school, and its population swelled past the walls of its building and into outside modular units. The school was literally “busting at the seams,” said David Brittell, principal architect with Brittell Architecture, a firm with offices in Longview, Washington, and Newberg, Oregon.
When the leadership of St. Rose decided to add more classroom space to the building, it turned to Brittell and JH Kelly Contractors, also located in Longview, to deliver the design/build project. By most practical standards, the project was straightforward. It would include a 12,000-square-foot addition to the existing building that would allow space for science, computer, and art labs, as well as administrative offices, restrooms, a library, and general classroom space. The plan also included a main entry that would create a new drop-off and pick-up space that were lacking at the school.
What wasn’t so cut and dry was the schedule the project would be under. School leadership wanted the project both started and completed while students were on summer break.
Brittell and JH Kelly had worked well together on several projects, and, while the order seemed tall, it wasn’t impossible.
“We promised to meet the tight schedule required by an existing and functioning school,” Brittell said.
Once the decision was made to move forward with the project, both sides agreed to compromise. The school extended the school day in order to get in all required hours for students. That allowed the school to close for summer break three weeks earlier than usual, in mid-May. Before school ended, the seventh and eighth grades were moved from the modular units into the existing building, with the modular units to be removed and the site to be readied for construction. The minute classes let out at noon on the last day of the school year, crews began working on the new building.
For the next three months, construction at St. Rose boomed as Brittell’s design began to take form. Besides the extremely tight schedule, another challenge Brittell faced was tying the existing church and school’s architecture to the new building.
“The structures are nearby each other on the campus but have distinctly different architectural features,” he said. “This was achieved by utilizing elements of both existing buildings in the new addition. We used both flat and sloped roofs as well as utilizing unique elongated baked brick that matched the existing building brick.”
The new structure also required that the school move its playground and parking, which were added on property bought by the school years before construction on the school began.
Though the project was not mandated for LEED certification, many of the design features lent themselves to energy conservation.
“One example is the use of Solatubes in the computer lab and library for natural lighting,” he said. “Solatubes are ‘green’ daylighting devices similar to skylights. Most often, artificial lighting is not even required in these spaces where Solatubes are placed.”
As the crew worked diligently through the summer to complete the project, another issue came to light. Construction crews were gunning for a mid-September opening, but the school would be starting classes in mid-August. The crew took the news well, working long days to ensure the project moved swiftly.
“We had weekly or bi-weekly (depending on the need) construction coordination meetings to address any immediate challenges and make sure things went smoothly,” Brittell said.
By the time the new school year began, the building was ready to welcome students. Students, faculty, and parents were immediately awed with the functional design and highly technical offerings of the new building.
Brittell Architecture provides services in Planning, Design, Construction Documents, and Construction Administration for projects of all sizes, www.brittellarch.com.
