SMBH

A creative culture of passionate people engaged in innovative structural design.

Education Pre K-12

Portsmouth City Schools Portsmouth Junior / Senior High School

Portsmouth JR-HS

Portsmouth Junior & Senior High School

Portsmouth City School District

Location:
Portsmouth, Ohio

Architect:
TSHD Architects
and Fanning Howey

Construction Cost:
$25.2 million

Project Size:
182,500 SF

To update their facilities and accommodate their growing population, Portsmouth City Schools passed a bond issue to construct a new Junior/Senior High School. This project was one of three new school buildings that the school district constructed as part of the overall project. The square footage of the total project was 390,000 square feet and the total cost for the large-scale project was $55.2 million.

As with many educational projects, the greatest challenge was designing a project that was in budget, functional, and met all of the Ohio School Facility Commission’s (OSFC) programming requirements. In addition, this project had to overcome the obstacle of combining a junior high and high school into one building. Although both schools were in one facility, each school area had to be useful for the different grade levels.

This project was extremely important to the design and construction team because most of the contractors on this project graduated from Portsmouth City Schools. They took tremendous pride and ownership in the project, which was one of the factors that led to such a great facility. The Portsmouth Junior/Senior High School became the first OSFC-funded project to receive the Grand Prize from School Planning & Management’s Education Design Showcase. The Grand Prize is awarded each year to the school design that best meets the needs of its educational program.

Switzerland of Ohio Local School District Skyvue Pre K – 8

Skyvue PK-8-Switzerland of Ohio School District

Skyvue School

Switzerland of Ohio Local School District

Location:
Graysville, Ohio

Architect:
BSHM Architects

Completion Date:
2012

Project Size:
100,000 SF

Skyvue is a 31,847 square foot, two-story k-8 school in Switzerland of Ohio School District. Total project costs for the new building were $8.3 million. The building was mixed construction which comprised of steel frame and masonry bearing walls. The second floor was constructed of concrete slab with metal deck on steel bar joists and the roof was composed of metal deck on steel bar joists and beams.

Columbus City Schools Wedgewood Middle School

CCS - Wedgewood MS

Wedgewood Middle School

Columbus City Schools

Location:
Columbus, Ohio

Architect:
WSA Studio

Construction Cost:
$13 million

Project Size:
90,000 SF

To better accommodate the needs of their students, Columbus Public Schools decided to construct a new facility for the Wedgewood Middle School. The design created learning pods for the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade on two floors. Each pod contains two project laboratories, six 900-square-foot flexible classrooms, and two special education classrooms. The pods arrangement supports team teaching per grade that occurs at the middle school level and increases the cohesiveness of the student body and each instructional unit.

Significant features of the design included large windows for maximum sunlight in each classroom and a centralized placement of the media center and library to underscore the role that this function plays in the educational process. Also included are a computer lab, state-of-the-art music and art rooms as well as a new gymnasium. The exterior features masonry, metal panels and glassy features.