ISSUE 68
INSIDE OUT
NEWSLETTER WINTER | 2018
“This is a building that our kids deserve. I know that they will appreciate and thrive in their new learning environment.” - David Cooke, Jemtegaard Middle School Principal The front view of the two-story Jemtegaard School that sits on an 85-mile-long stretch of protected land.
Jemtegaard Middle School: Realizing the Dream While Preserving a Scenic Area When the Washougal School District in Washington State decided to demolish the old Jemtegaard Middle School and build a new middle and an elementary school in its place, there was more work to be done than simply designing and creating the new buildings. Though citizens had approved the bond measure to fund building these schools, the school site was within the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. This meant that—in addition to the usual design and environmental requirements and permitting—this project needed to comply with a large range of special design restrictions that pertain to any structure built in this area. The nationally designated scenic area was created to “protect and provide for the enhancement of the scenic, cultural, recreational, and natural resources of the gorge and to protect and support the economy of the Columbia River Gorge area by encouraging growth to occur in existing urban areas and by allowing future economic development,” according to the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). It’s not a wilderness or a park, but an area the USFS manages collaboratively with Washington and Oregon’s private owners, tribal entities, and county
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agencies. Careful coordination between agencies, the school district, and building designers had to be done to minimize weather exposure from the gorge and maintain ongoing operation throughout construction. Also, because the school is situated across Evergreen Highway from the Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge and close to Gibbons Creek, designers and planners ensured it did not impact local waterways. The Jemtegaard Middle School is the largest structure ever built in the scenic area, so the project team had to consider all the requirements and regulations inherent (continued on page 2)
To update your contact information, please email newsletter@abam.com EDITORS/CONTRIBUTORS Nora Bretaña, Danny Christian, Karen Harbaugh, Lauren Hurst, Jana Roy, Diann Scherer, Renée Stiehl, and Dee Young DESIGN AND PRODUCTION Ailoan Che and Renée Stiehl