October 6, 2004, FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Lee County School District recently approved the design of a new staging school, developed by SchenkelShultz Architecture that will be located in a former Kmart store in Lehigh Acres, Fla.

The school is designed to accommodate kindergarten through 12th grade students. When the school opens in 2005, it will house up to 570 elementary students. In the following years, the school might contain 728 middle or 794 high school students, depending on the school district’s needs.

Schenkel Shultz designed the school in three months and construction is expected to be complete in just six months, which is less than 50 percent of the average time elementary schools are designed and constructed; high schools can take up to two and a half years to build.

Time and budget are the biggest motivators in selecting a conversion over building from the ground up.  The big-box retrofits are similar to a tenant build-out with the majority of work being interior.  The retrofits also make efficient use of the existing structure and site work.  An additional benefit of conversions is that the schools are built in the areas that need them but in locations that are outside of residential neighborhoods.

“Our design philosophy at SchenkelShultz is a blend of innovation, sustainability and collaboration with business,” said Tom Chandler, AIA, President & COO of SchenkelShultz.  “The Lehigh Acres staging school shows that design can be functional and fiscally responsible.”

This particular Kmart site was chosen because of its size, 100,000-square-feet and prime location.  The firm was then challenged to create an atmosphere conducive to learning while adhering to a tight budget and time constraints.  Design issues include organizational method of teaching, adaptability, school image, maximizing daylight, acoustics, technology, safety, community access and reconfiguring the site with efficient traffic flow for parent and bus drop off.

Because it was so important to give the space a new image, more than 60 windows of various size and pattern were used in the design.  The exterior is playful with a large brick pattern to create a smaller scale for the younger students.  And, the asphalt parking lot will be transformed into a large green lawn with rows of trees flanking the school to create a “National Mall effect.”

“Although the Kmart space was an important factor in developing the school, the new design is careful to erase any indication of its former use,” said Chandler. “Students of the staging school will be proud to call their own.”

SchenkelShultz consistently ranks among the top design firms in Engineering News-Record’s annual survey of leaders in Educational design.  In 2004, the firm ranked 314 of the top 500 design firms in the nation.

Founded in 1958, SchenkelShultz is a full-service architectural design firm specializing in a wide variety of building types.  The firm is well known for its Education, Justice and Aviation facility design.  The firm has offices in Orlando, Tampa, West Palm Beach, Fort Myers and Naples, Florida; Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina; Fort Wayne and Indianapolis, Indiana; and Frankfort, Kentucky.

Visit us at www.schenkelshultz.com

SchenkelShultz Big Box Retrofits for Schools Fact Sheet

Benefits:

Provides a viable solution for school districts’ need for additional schools Revitalizes the micro-communities where space is vacant Builds schools in the communities that need them Reduces permitting time Reduces construction time Efficiency and re-use of structure and site work Solution for residential communities NIMBY attitude to new school construction 

Development Model: 

The site must be located within a zone that most effectively serves the school district’s needs for providing classroom space relief.
The site must have a minimum of two access points for bus and parent drop-off with sufficient car and bus stacking space.  A traffic signal is preferred at the main entry of the school for vehicular circulation.
The space requirement is approximately 100,000-square-feet to accommodate 900 elementary student stations
The building needs to be structurally sound and inspected and retrofitted to meet current building codes.
An evaluation of the building envelope and existing mechanical systems is required prior to building acquisition.
A feasibility study is required to determine the educational and budgetary goals or expectation of the owner are met.
To maintain student safety and comply with Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) guidelines, shared access roads with adjacent properties is undesirable and should be minimized.
Construction is treated like a tenant build-out because the majority is interior work, while complying with applicable codes for educational facilities.
 
Current Projects:

Lehigh Acres Staging School
Owner: Lee County Public Schools
             Fort Myers, Florida

Completion date:  2005

To accommodate the immediate need for additional classrooms, the Lee County School District took advantage of existing structures to use as staging schools. SchenkelShultz is redesigning the former Kmart building in Lehigh Acres, Fla. into a school flexible enough to accommodate kindergarten through 12th grade students. The facility sits on 10.6-acres and includes classrooms, administrative areas, a cafeteria and play areas.  The school stages students for up to a year and might contain elementary students one year and high school students the next.  The design accommodates 570 elementary, 728 middle or 794 high school students.  When new, permanent schools have been built, the school district plans to use the building as an elementary school.

The Big School House
Owner:  A Gift for Teaching
              Orlando, Florida

Completion Date:  Fall 2004

SchenkelShultz is donating the design of the new A Gift for Teaching (AGFT) facility.  AGFT is a not-for-profit that collects surplus items from individuals and businesses throughout the community, which are then offered in a “store” at no cost to area school teachers for use in their classrooms. Having outgrown the existing facility, the new space allows AGFT to double in size to 25,000-square-feet.  SchenkelShultz is renovating a warehouse at the Orange County Public Schools complex to include an administrative work area, shopping, storage and circular music area for the organization’s music outreach program.

Osceola School for Performing Arts, grades 6 - 12
Owner:  School District of Osceola County
               Kissimmee, Florida

Completion Date:  Fall 2003

As part of a design/build team, SchenkelShultz renovated 33,000-square-feet of an existing building at the former Tupperware Auditorium and Convention Center to create a middle / high school with an emphasis in the arts.  The renovated facility has lab rooms for band, vocal, orchestra, arts, graphic arts, dance and a CCTV studio; as well as space for core areas of administration, dining and a media center.

The Geneva School
Owner:  The Geneva School
               Winter Park, Florida

Completion Date: September 2003

Budget and time constraints drove The Geneva School to select an empty Sports Unlimited store in Orlando for their new 400-student school.  SchenkelShultz converted and renovated 40,000-square-feet into a campus housing K4 – grade 12.  The design took advantage of large existing structural bays to plan program requirements that would provide maximum flexibility with minimum cost and placed classrooms at the perimeter of the building to take advantage of daylight.  From initial design to construction, the project was completed in 14 months.