Case Study
415.402.0888 | MKThink.com
Town School for Boys San Francisco, CA
Align with 21st Century Education
Transform a 50-year school building into a dynamic teaching tool
MARK MILLER Principal, MKThink An accomplished creative, entrepreneurial professional who founded and led the award winning businesses MKThink and Project FROG. He has an impressive history serving multiple corporate leadership roles including Founder, Chairman and CEO positions.
CHALLENGE | Create
APPROACH | MKThink
a modernized learning
conducted a series of
environment from an outdated
discovery, analytic, and
facility located on a confined
creative workshops with
residential site without
the school leadership team.
disrupting school operations.
The workshops produced a
CONTEXT | Town School for Boys is a highly reputable, K-8 independent school with a longstanding tradition of educating San Francisco boys. The school’s educational vision is to integrate traditional instruction with interdisciplinary, inquirybased learning. To deliver on that vision, its existing facility needed substantial renovation and expansion while allowing for uninterrupted operations. The school’s location in an exclusive,
W. Brewster Ely IV Headmaster Town School for Boys “Learning is prized, love of school is essential and boyhood is celebrated” articulates our goal of fostering a love of learning which will serve students throughout their lives.
hillside, residential neighborhood presented major obstacles, and multiple studies over the prior 10 years had failed to produce a viable solution.
baseline understanding of the facility’s strengths and shortcomings as well as design concepts for environments to support the educational vision. These findings informed measurable, operational criteria for the ideal facility. From this framework, MKThink developed a fresh approach to the facility’s modernization. The project team aligned project scope and schedule and investment requirements with educational outcomes and established a case-for-action to convince school leaders to embrace comprehensive and nondisruptive renovation.
the IDEAS company for the built environment
415.402.0888 | MKThink.com
Town School for Boys San Francisco, CA
PROJECT DATA
STRATEGY | MKThink presented Town School with four strategic alternatives with options for on-site or off-site
TYPE K-8 EDUCATION LOCATION PACIFIC HEIGHTS, SAN FRANCISCO, CA ASSIGNMENT Align facility with 21st century learning approaches DATES STUDY: 2008 - 2012 PHASE 1: 2012 PHASE 2+3: 2013 - 2014 PHASE 4: 2016 - 17 SIZE 75,000 SF total 30,000 SF renovated 24,500 SF new
expansion, single phase or multiphase implementation, major or modest construction, and near-term or escalated construction costs. The school opted for a 3-phase, major renovation of the existing structure on the current site.
RESULT | MKThink’s recommended strategy resulted in a new Conditional Use Permit, an 8-year Entitlement Approval, and the completion of three phases of the four-phase Master Plan. •
land or any loss of open space •
14% (8,000 NSF) increase in existing space utilization
•
7% more classrooms (3,600 NSF or 4.5 classrooms) captured through rightsizing
•
$8M capital cost avoidance achieved through on-site efficiencies instead of new land acquisition (20,302 FAR SF x $400/FAR SF)
•
SCOPE OF SERVICES
20,302 new usable SF without the acquisition of new
74% of the facility improved and modernized to serve as a “third-teacher” educational tool
Discovery Utilization Assessment Visioning Space Program Alignment Master Planning Experience Design Agencies Entitlement Facility Design - Renovation Facility Design - Expansion Interim Campus Relocation
ANALYTIC FINDINGS • •
• •
22,000 SF additional space required 22% efficiency: rightsizing and scheduling modifications increase capacity from 9,274 to 10,987 SF 38% better use of capital through on-site renovation 43% more efficiency from single-phase, major expansion
the IDEAS company for the built environment
415.402.0888 | MKThink.com
Town School for Boys San Francisco, CA
UTILIZATION FINDINGS Room-by-room analysis of utilization and occupancy patterns provided insight into school facility needs
RECONFIGURATION AND EXPANSION The design concept joined two functionally separate buildings into one unified space
PHASING PLAN The four-phase renovations
were timed to minimize disruption to school
operations and coordinate with fundraising campaigns.
the IDEAS company for the built environment
415.402.0888 | MKThink.com
Town School for Boys San Francisco, CA
BIG DIG 175,000 CF of material was excavated for the new 7,000 SF multi-purpose room .
to make room
ATRIUM STAIRWELL the thoroughfare connects the E ast and West Wings
ATRIUM The atrium is the central core of the new Town School and provides an open , light-filled common space to promote casual student interactions .
the IDEAS company for the built environment