On an average day at Haven, students bustle through the Wall of Honor and Green Mile, hustling to get from class in the academic wing to the far-flung trailers in the brief time between blocks.
After $99 million and four years, the daily odyssey of many underclassmen to read the Odyssey in their English classes in the trailers may be no more, according to renovation plans shared at the April 21 Facilities Committee meeting.
The project is led by the architectural firm Kelly Clough Baker and Associates (KCBA). The firm has drafted conceptual designs for the school over the past few months. The architects unveiled their preliminary design plans for Haven at a community forum on March 5, and shared more plans at the April 21 meeting.
These plans focus on updating building infrastructure and educational spaces. This includes removing the trailers, upgrading performing arts spaces, adding and improving athletic facilities, creating a new “Learning Commons” in the academic wing, renovating the library, and creating new and improved science labs and special education spaces.
The presented plans also maintain a focus on creating new lunch seating to accommodate administrative plans announced at the February 4 renovations forum to cut down to two lunches and create a fifth-block-esque period in the middle of the day.
Out of the renovation plans, the architects believe that the most critical is updating the school’s infrastructure, including replacing the roof, electrical systems, boilers, chillers, and the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system. Architects emphasized the need for a “warm, safe, and dry” school.
“It’s a very fine school, but it’s old,” KCBA architect Mike Kelly said. “When buildings get old, it’s like the engine of a car: the outside of the car might be fine, but the engine needs to be replaced or re-tuned. And that’s kind of what we’re looking at with the building.”
The need for updating these systems is also noted by students.
“It’s so annoying to go from one room, and it’s really hot, then [the next room is] really cold,” sophomore Adeline Barton said. “That’s the worst.”
The plans include changes to the Providence Road entrance to the school that would add additional science labs.
“Walking in off the Providence road side here, you would come into a new vestibule for the building that would include the maker space and the STEM classrooms that would be really right on display,” Superintendent Dr. Russell Johnston said. “The heart of the building [is right there], instead of sort of off to the side the way that it is now.”
The design plans also include the addition of “Learning Commons” — enclosed learning spaces in the hallways filled with furniture and desks for students to utilize.
“I often see students sitting in the hallway, working in the hallway at a table,” Johnston said. “A lot of what we do right now could continue to happen, but just in a more educationally enlivening type of space, as opposed to just, you know, sitting on the floor in the hallway,” Johnston said.
At the April 21 meeting, the KCBA team introduced new designs and changes to the Providence Road entryway. The proposed changes include the removal of the gazebo, the expansion of seating and natural light, and the addition of a hallway leading down to the second floor in a total transformation of the Wall of Honor.
The Green Mile would get removed in the changes in a complete renovation of the library and media center that would add seating and add stairs up to the Wall of Honor Hallway, and add small group instruction spaces.
In order to minimize disruption to school activities during construction, the plans are set to be carried out in stages, focusing on only a few parts at a time and attempting to do as much as possible during summers.
“There will just be a lot of staging and a lot of signage that will have to be in place, a lot of communication with students, families, and faculty about what to expect as each part of the building is renovated,” Johnston said.
Another change proposed at the meeting is that the library could accommodate temporary classrooms as construction proceeds and new classrooms are under construction.
The current timeline includes a year of setting up permits and designing, followed by around three years of construction.
Despite the new plans, the district is still open to input from students and faculty.
“It’s so critical to continue to get student input, and to hear student voice along the way as we continue to develop this project,” Johnston said.
Although the architects do lead the process, community feedback is vital to help guide them.
“[The architects’] influence is large in the fact that we’re leading the process,” Kelly said. “But the school district and their members have a much greater influence on the project because they’re telling us what they want, what they like, what the needs of the building are, and what the needs of the students are.”
While some students are aware of these plans, others feel that the school should make a better effort at announcing them to the community.
“I think that they need to put posters up [describing the plans] or maybe surveys on what we want,” sophomore Sienna Ferraiolo said.
The plan will come before the board for a vote at the April 27 board meeting.
Johnston emphasized the need for investment into the school.
“Making sure that the building will be sustainable into the future is what’s at the core of this [project],” Johnston said.
