Tag: Education Design (3)

Pine River Backus School Student Session

Pine River-Backus Student Session

Kodet collaborated with Pine River-Backus (MN) Schools in an engaging student session that provided insightful perspectives that will help shape design solutions for their school! Virtual walkthroughs, rip + tear models, and floor plans helped visualize the built environment at different project stations for the students to interact at. Kodet had a wonderful time working with the PRBS students and loved seeing their excitement and receiving their valuable feedback generated from the session!

Small Renovation, Big Impact

PINE RIVER-BACKUS HIGH SCHOOL As the students at Pine River-Backus High School packed up for the end of the school year and headed off to summer vacation, bulldozers, machinery, and construction workers filled the site to complete a small addition and renovation to the building. Many months of planning and design began to take shape in physical form at Pine River-Backus High School, and by the fall the construction was complete. Kodet worked with the school district on the design for an addition and renovation to the high school building for almost a year preceding the construction to ensure that the space fit the goals and needs of the school. Part of this process was working with the committee to prepare for the approvals of the School Board and Minnesota Department of Education. Though the overall scope of the project was relatively small, the impact was far reaching. It changed the way students, staff, and visitors interact and experience their everyday environment to work, learn, and play. Construction at Pine River-Backus took place primarily during the summer months so that the students could enter the classrooms on the first day of school in the fall. They were welcomed back with a renovated facility, where changes took place in three main building areas: High School Offices High School Entry High School Hallways The work in the areas listed above addressed three key factors for the school: Ongoing maintenance Accessibility Safety and security The benefits of the project were great – enhancing the user experience on a daily basis. Examples of how the three factors were addressed are as follows: ONGOING MAINTENANCE Issues such as hallway floor cracks were fixed and we changed the flooring material to prevent further cracking problems. In doing so, we had the opportunity to update the material […]

District Facilities Planning Process

Is your district considering embarking on a District-Wide Facilities Comprehensive Planning process? Or, is your district experiencing facility accommodation, capacity, efficiency, and/or space utilization challenges? If so, this is a very exciting time for your district! But it may also be a bit daunting if you’re unsure of where to start. Through our experience working with schools, districts, and other educational facility master planners, we have developed a brief overview of the first steps in our District-Wide Facility Comprehensive Planning process for your reference (shown below). We hope this overview helps to clarify what the beginning of this process would look like once the design team has been hired by the district. All design teams and districts are different, so keep in mind that all steps are flexible to adjust to the unique characteristics, needs, and preferences of the team, district, and community. 1) Educational Visioning Event A one-day event that invites the community to envision the future of education in their community. This event kicks off the comprehensive planning process as a community-wide endeavor. Potential discussion topics include:   2) Steering Committee Formation Establishing a Steering Committee, or a Task Force, helps to guide the comprehensive planning process. The committee’s responsibilities include: Represent the district and community in the planning process Review and discuss Educational Visioning Event findings Formulate questions for Community Dialogue meetings Provide feedback to design team throughout process Develop a recommendation to the Superintendent 3) Community Dialogue #1 The first Community Dialogue focuses on creating an educational framework for the district. The educational framework developed will guide the planning process by attempting to define: Grade configuration Class size Number of facilities Criteria for determining facility lifespan Strategies for building and site disposition 4) Community Dialogue #1 Findings The design team will assess and present the Community Dialogue #1 findings to the Steering […]