New school will have an outdoor classroom
The design for a new school that will soon be built next to King George Public School was unveiled to the public Thursday night – and the new building will have features such as an outdoor classroom.
The new school will be built next year. It is expected to open in September 2019.
At that time, King George and Armour Heights are both expected to close: students will all attend this new, as-yet unnamed school.
King George Public School held an open house Thursday night to show the architectural plans.
School principal Marguerite Masterson welcomed a steady stream of parents and students to the gym to see the drawings, which show a modern, red-brick building with lots of glass.
Architect Robert Ferkul of the Toronto firm Moffet + Duncan said the design is environmentally friendly by dint of “common sense.”
By that he means the building is oriented east-west, for example, so that it captures the light and warmth of the sun. That’s not easily done on this site, he added, because of a steep hill.
Meanwhile there’s also an upperfloor terrace designed to be an outdoor classroom. (There’s a curtain wall around it for safety.) Teachers can add a terrace garden and kids can go learn outside.
The design borrows the red brick from King George Public School but also incorporates a lot of modernlooking glazing as a means of combining traditional and new styles.
Coun. Gary Baldwin, a retired school principal, said he thought it looked fabulous
Coun. Keith Riel was also happy: he said he’d asked that the building design be as environmentally friendly as possible, and he got his wish.
Coun. Lesley Parnell, who said last week she was concerned the building would be too modernlooking next to the historic King George, said she was happy with the design because it “blends” well into the site.
“It’s going to have some style to it, and be nice and bright and environmentally friendly,” she said.
School trustee Rose Kitney said there will be a new committee struck soon to come up with a name for the new school. She didn’t say what the board has planned for the historic King George, although it’s expected that the building, which is more than 100 years old, will be somehow repurposed.