Task force continues to refine conceptual design for rebuilding Moorhead High
April 30, 2019
The Conceptual Design Task Force members reviewed a revised conceptual design for rebuilding Moorhead High School at their April 10 meeting. The Moorhead School Board received an update on this work at the April 22 board meeting.
Brian Berg, Zerr Berg Architects, told the School Board that with around 50 to 60 task force members at the meetings, the community has had input in the conceptual design process.
“We’ve had a lot of spirited discussion and in-depth work at the tables with people figuring out how things can go together,” Berg said. “It’s been an energizing process. I commend the district for taking the time to involve community members. It’s a useful tool to understand what the community is looking for in a school building.”
The School Board voted in February to accept the High School Facilities Task Force recommendation to replace Moorhead High School on the existing site with a career academy located on a separate site. The high school as recommended would be designed for 2,400 students with common areas designed for 2,600 students.
Most of the current school will be removed following completion of the first phase of construction. This will eliminate the lack of light, split-level configuration and circulation issues found in the current high school, Berg said at a board meeting earlier this year. Addressing the capacity and adequacy of the high school is part of phase two of the district’s facilities master plan.
Berg said he reminded the task force members that the design process requires multiple iterations, and he reviewed information with them from the second design charette, including takeaways from the discussion about the pros and cons for keeping the existing ninth-grade center.
Additionally, the original design would have significantly impacted the arts areas in the current building during construction, Berg said. The updated conceptual design has the majority of the new building built north of the existing building.
“I think with this approach we can minimize that disruption,” Berg said.
An earlier conceptual design had three longer three-story academic wings to the north of the site with arts areas to the west. After the task force discussed the academic and common areas, the newer design has four shorter academic wings to reduce long hallways and travel distance between classrooms.
“I cautioned everyone to not get caught up on specifics,” Berg said. “Right now it’s general relationships of spaces and how things fit together, but not specific rooms.”
Other discussion at the third task force meeting included moving the pool to shift academic wings closer to the football field, adding more parking to the west with a bus loop and student entry, switching the location of the auditorium with the music classrooms, and focusing the food service area more directly on the commons.
Berg said they are within 10,000 square feet of the overall program space for the building, which will be approximately 420,000 square feet.
A joint meeting of the facilities task force and the conceptual design task force will be held May 1 to discuss the newest building plan and have an initial discussion about the career academy, including possible community partnerships.
Photo: During the April 22 School Board meeting, Brian Berg, Zerr Berg Architects, presents the latest update on the Conceptual Design Task Force’s work to refine the conceptual design for rebuilding Moorhead High School.
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