Author Thomas Wolfe once said “you can’t go home again.” But don’t tell Sault Ste. Marie architect Ian Hill that.
Architecture
Author Thomas Wolfe once said “you can’t go home again.” But don’t tell Sault Ste. Marie architect Ian Hill that.
The principal in EPOH Inc. was the project architect on a recently completed $19.2 million high school in the town of Kirkland Lake. It replaces an aging facility constructed in 1928.
Coincidentally, Hill graduated from that very school, the Kirkland Lake Collegiate and Vocational Institute, over 20 years ago.
The new facility, known as the Kirkland Lake District Composite School, will accommodate 760 pupils in grades 7 and 8 as well as high school.
It was built by Bondfield Construction Co. Ltd.
The school, which opened this month, is situated at the edge of the community, located some 250 kilometres north of North Bay and 50 kilometres from the Ontario-Quebec border.
Planning began in 2001 after the original secondary and middle schools were deemed unfit for renovation.
Hill, who has an architecture degree from the University of Waterloo, returned to northern Ontario nine years ago after practising down south. He has designed a number of educational facilities during his career.
The Kirkland Lake school houses a plethora of specialized facilities — among them three industrial shops, a number of labs, and a hospitality industry training centre — in addition to a cafetorium, triple gymnasium and library.
A video-conferencing lab will facilitate distance education.
Hill said the building’s most unique exterior design feature is the two and one-half storey sloped wall/roof library which is enclosed with translucent curtainwall panels.
The library projects “up and away” from the building’s main entrance and wedges into the junction of the L-shaped floor plan.
Wall-to-wall “strip” windows flood the classrooms with natural light.
The building’s north wall is “carefully punctuated” with windows that offer “significantly higher” R values than the norm. Hill said this is critical in northeastern Ontario where temperatures can range as low as –40 C.
Generous glazing faces south and west. Operable window units directly face each other on either side of the building, enabling cross-ventilation during warmer days. Only the cafetorium, administration wing, kitchen and gymnasium have full air conditioning.
Hill, who managed the project from schematic design through to final occupancy, said “the journey through the building” is highlighted with glazed stairwells which offer panoramas of the hinterland and town.
Glazed openings in the corridors visually connect the students to the shops, cafetorium, foyer and library.
Connected to the cafetorium is a dining room which serves as a training area for students enrolled in the hospitality program. A kitchen is equipped with commercial restaurant equipment.
The building boasts wireless communications systems.
Sound “fields” have been installed in all classrooms to address the needs of those with hearing problems.
The project team included structural engineers Halsall Associates Ltd., mechanical, electrical and civil engineers BH Martin Consultants Ltd. and landscape architect Design Environment.
Construction started in April 2005. The building was enclosed the following November. Substantial completion was achieved last month.
“The warmer winters over the past decade have made northern Ontario construction not as difficult as might be believed,” Hill said.
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