Firms oter visions Ror campus
Las Vegas Academy due for extensive makeover
Three local architectural firms presented their ideas Thursday night for a reimagined Las Vegas Academy campus in a process that officials say is just beginning.
“This is a very complex problem with no easy answers,” said Jeff Wagner, director of construction for the Clark County School District. “I think all of the architects have done quite a good job of balancing the priorities. I want to emphasize this is not an end — this is the beginning.”
The three firms — KGA Architecture, Simpson Coulter Studio and Tate Snyder Kimsey — spoke to a crowd of about 100 people who gathered at the Lowden Theater on campus. Those in attendance were invited to hear their presentations and asked to rank the teams on five areas of consideration: safety, historic preservation, overall campus design, overall aesthetics and construction plan.
“I believe in the power of architecture to inspire, to bring communities together, and to celebrate our successes,” Wagner said, asking the audience to respond to the questions in a thoughtful manner. “I think tonight you were confronted with three plans that do exactly that.”
Merging the past with the future was a recurring theme reflected in the three presentations, as well as in questions from the public. Creating more defined campus borders, resolving current parking and restroom issues, reconfiguring spaces for added collaboration among majors, connecting with the community, and making room on campus for program expansion were other major themes.
The three firms each received a $25,000 stipend to come up with the initial proposals, but Wagner said the amount of work done by the firms far exceeded that amount.
Jim Lord, partner at KGA Architecture, said his firm was excited for the challenge.
“The process the school district picked is unique,” Lord said. “So we saw it not only as a challenge, but quite honestly, fun. We were very excited. It was really a chance for all three firms to be creative … to flex their muscles.”
The survey results will be considered by the LVA School Building Committee, which is made up of current academy employees as well as alumni, a parent and a student. The committee will make a recommendation to the CCSD Board of Trustees.
Wagner said he hopes the board will choose a firm by the end of the year and estimates it will take an additional six months for the campus master plan to be finished.
While the campus master plan will fall to one firm to prepare, other firms will be brought on to tackle individual buildings in a process that could take years. An overall budget, however, has not yet been established.
“Las Vegas Academy is too important, too special, to put in any single person’s hand,” Wagner said.
Contact Natalie Bruzda at nbruzda@reviewjournal.com or 702477-3897. Follow @Nataliebruzda on Twitter.
Las Vegas police shot a man wielding a pellet gun Wednesday night after police said he charged the officers during a domestic dispute in east Las Vegas.
Metropolitan Police Department Capt. Kelly Mcmahill said the dispute began Tuesday evening, when a woman told police that her boyfriend had beaten her. When officers responded to the call on the 100 block of Moonlight Drive, near Charleston and Lamb boulevards, they couldn’t find the boyfriend.
Officers took a report from the woman and left, Mcmahill said, but on Wednesday evening she called police again about 7:45 p.m. She asked police to come and help her get her belongings out of the house, which she shared with the man.
When police arrived at the home they weren’t sure if the man was there, Mcmahill said, but he spoke to them through a doorbell that allows a person to answer the door from anywhere with a smartphone.
Mcmahill said that while he was speaking to police, he made comments that were “derogatory toward the police officers, and he did threaten to murder the police officers more than once.”
Mcmahill said the officers realized the man might not be inside the home. After entering the house and finding it empty, they helped the woman pack up her belongings.
While they were inside, a neighbor saw the man arriving at the home. Mcmahill said he crashed his pickup into the back of an unoccupied police car and then shot the car several times with the pellet gun.
At the same time, the officers were leaving the home with the woman. Mcmahill said the man saw the officers, screamed, “Die,” and charged at them with the pellet gun.
Officers shot at the man, striking him once in the lower abdomen. No officers were hurt, Mcmahill said, and the man was taken to University Medical Center where he underwent surgery. He is expected to survive.