Chute Lake Elementary School reflects unique community attributes, a candidate for LEED® Silver certification Gregg Brown and Nick Bevanda know a thing or two about teamwork. The two architects, principals of KMBR Architects Planners Inc. and Bevanda Architecture Inc. respectively, have successfully collaborated on the recently constructed Chute Lake Elementary School, completed for School District No. 23 of Kelowna, B.C. The project is the seventh in a series of projects in the Okanagan Valley, following the replacement of Penticton Secondary School, an expansion to Mount Boucherie Secondary School, and the completion of the Central Okanagan Hospice House. The two firms are also working together on the renovation and expansion of the Southern Okanagan Secondary School, scheduled to begin construction in the spring of 2010. The relationship between the two firms began in 2003 with the design of Penticton Secondary School. Led by Brown and Bevanda, the project was a multifaceted one, involving the preservation and incorporation of two nearby heritage buildings. It was this experience – with all its challenges and complexities – that laid the groundwork for a partnership based on collaborative innovation. Since then, the two men and their firms have combined their values in design and client service to create meaningful architecture that meets the unique requirements of their clients throughout the Okanagan Valley. This is exemplified with the recently completed Chute Lake Elementary. Drawing largely from Brown and Bevanda’s educational facility planning expertise, work on Chute Lake began in 2007. The mandate was to meet the Ministry of Education’s challenging schedule, which included a two-phase feasibility study, Ministry approvals and detailed design over a course of only 14 months. The school is designed for a student capacity of 350 students plus two kindergarten classes, with a construction budget of approximately $10.5 million. The design team, consisting of the architects, consultants and school district representatives (including administrators, facility planners and capital project coordinators), was successful in providing a scheme and meeting the challenging schedule. Integral to this achievement was the firms’ common design philosophy, and particularly their shared use of integrated processes and Building Information Modeling (BIM) software, including Revit-Architecture by Autodesk. The project was tendered in the spring of 2008 and awarded to Greyback Construction Ltd., providing a bid of $9,180,000. The building is located in a newly-constructed residential area in the upper Mission area of south Kelowna. The area borders the Kettle Valley subdivision, distinguished by its New Urbanism character. The concept was to create a compact twostorey school that reflected the unique attributes of this area, while maximizing the potential for the site. In addition to the building, playing fields, outdoor gathering spaces, play equipment and parking for staff and visitors were organized on the 5.4-acre site.
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Ops Talk Fall 2009
Situated on the southwest corner of the property, the school overlooks the playing fields. It provides safe, easy access for parents dropping off their children as well as direct access to the kindergarten rooms located on the lower floor, adjacent to the play equipment. The site allows for families to access the property with a connection between two bordering streets. The building axis follows the east-west contours to minimize earthworks and to achieve the optimal north-south orientation for the long sides of the building. This orientation is particularly important for sun control, and also happens to take advantage of the good views to the north over the park and playfields. Bevanda’s role as a key community liaison informed the many community design elements incorporated into this project. Community/recreational spaces are clustered at the west end of the building, which is also the most public side of the site. The main entrance lobby creates a social heart to the school and serves to accommodate large numbers of occupants who may be using the gym and/or multi-purpose room for various community functions. Off the main entrance lobby is the administration area, library, gym, kitchen servery, and multi-purpose room which will all contribute to a sense of vitality and community at the central hub of the school. A single classroom is also located within the community-use end of the school so that community meetings and before/after school care can be accommodated outside of normal school hours. The entrances are designed to allow the non-community use spaces to be secured when school is not in session. The multi-purpose room is designed to be usable for music and drama activities, and can open into the gym for performances, acting as the stage, or as a backstage area for a stage platform set up in the gym. The kitchen can serve the multi-
