Does it stack up? Architect proposes highrise high school
Local designer says he is trying to ‘ start the conversation’ with daring idea for multi- level educational facility
A New Westminster architect is urging the school district to take a page out of the City of Vancouver’s book and build up, not out, when constructing its new high school.
The B. C. Education Ministry committed to the replacement of New Westminster Secondary late last month.
Local architect Robert Billard noted in a recent blog that the space constraints on the current site, where the new school will be built, are significant because of the presence of the Massey Theatre and a graveyard. He recently floated what he called a “napkin sketch” idea for a multi- level, oval- shaped school with a central gymnasium on the main floor and a ramp orbiting around the gym with classrooms branching off.
The idea is somewhat controversial because the new building would likely need to be higher than current zoning allows and the parking would have to be underground. But “it has gotten some mileage” in terms of press coverage and social media traffic, Billard said.
“We do university buildings that are many ... storeys tall, we do hospitals that are many storeys tall,” he said. “Going up, you could take advantage of things like stack effect and innovative ways of heating and heat recovery.”
Another advantage of building a more compact structure is that it would be easier to keep the existing school going while constructing the new one, he added.
Doug Templeton, director of facilities and maintenance with the New Westminster School District, said: “Any time you build a school you need to look at core functions that need to be on the main floor ... and then you can build up from there. I would anticipate that there will certainly be a structure of multiple levels, but I wouldn’t be able to say at this time what that might look like because it hasn’t been defined.”
Billard said he put the concept out there not because he wants to get hired to design the school, but because architecture is an important component of community building.
“I’m just saying let’s start the conversation, let’s move things forward. Architects are supposed to be visionaries. Let’s think.”
The Ministry of Education has requested a report from the school district that sets out what will be required to build the new school. The school district anticipates submitting that report to the Treasury Board for approval in late February, board chair Jonina Campbell said in a news release last month.