See new schools taking shape—from the air
Howard Elementary School
Roosevelt Middle School
Students and teachers from Howard Elementary School and Roosevelt Middle School have been getting an up-close look at the construction sites of the new school building where they will be teaching and learning next year. Now the public can get a closer glimpse of the construction from a different angle. An aerial photographer recently filmed the schools under construction using a drone-mounted camera.
2+2= Four new schools in the works for Eugene
Four new school buildings opening in 2016 and 2017 will provide safe, appealing, efficient and inspiring spaces that will serve our students and our community for many decades to come, and it’s all thanks to voters’ support of the 2013 bond measure. Voters in Eugene School District 4J resoundingly passed a school bond measure to provide funding for 4J school improvements including replacing these four of the district’s oldest, most inefficient school buildings.
All four of the new schools will be light-filled two-story structures, providing ample room for classrooms and common spaces while maximizing adjacent open space for outdoor learning, play areas and athletic fields. Throughout the design process, input was sought from school staff, students, neighbors and other community members. The resulting building designs incorporate input received from both children and adults.
Howard Elementary School
Howard Elementary School, in the River Road neighborhood, was the first project to break ground. The school design was developed by Eugene-based PiVOT Architecture in association with Portland firm DOWA-IBI Group, with input from school staff, students and neighbors. Construction on the new school to replace the current 1949 building began last year. One wing of the new school is now entirely enclosed with drywall and windows, so it is starting to look more like a more complete building. It will open in fall 2016. (learn more)
Roosevelt Middle School
Roosevelt Middle School, in the South Eugene neighborhood, was the second bond-funded school replacement project to get underway. Like Howard, the new Roosevelt will be completed in time for the start of school in fall 2016. A design committee worked with Eugene firm Robertson Sherwood Architects and Mahlum Architects of Portland to design the new building. The new facility will be Roosevelt’s third building since the school opened in 1925. It will replace the current building, which was built in 1950. (learn more)
River Road/El Camino del Río Elementary School
River Road/El Camino del Río Elementary School will be replaced next, with construction beginning in early 2016 and slated for completion in 2017. The new school, the third building in the River Road school’s history, was designed by the same architect team that designed the Howard building currently under construction. Site preparation was mostly completed over the summer while students were gone and the weather and ground conditions were right. Now, to make space for the new school to be built, the west end of the existing school’s gym is being removed. Students will continue to use the reduced-size gym, about one-third smaller than its original size, until the new building is completed. (learn more)
Once each of the three new schools is completed, the old buildings will be removed and the area they occupied will be redeveloped as green space, athletic fields, parking, and student drop-off and pickup areas.
Arts & Technology Academy
Arts & Technology Academy, the former Jefferson Middle School building in southwest Eugene, will be renovated and reconstructed in place. Conceptual design work, by the design team of Rowell Brokaw Architects of Eugene and Opsis Architecture of Portland, is largely complete. Plans will be submitted for building permits this winter. Construction of the school will be bid and awarded to the successful contractor in spring 2016 and work will begin before school ends for the summer in 2016. The reconstructed building is slated to open in fall 2017. (learn more)
