Awards
EPA’s ENERGY STAR
Merit Award Finalist – Chicago Building Congress
Excellence for Masonry – Excellence in Construction Awards
Location: St. John, IN
Size: 836,130 sq. ft.
Cost: $119,000,000
Type: Addition, Renovation, Assessment
Services: Architecture, Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, Interiors, Energy, Civil, Landscape Architecture, Technology, Sustainable Design
Lake Central High School was terribly overcrowded with enrollment far exceeding the intended capacity. Narrow corridors, small classrooms, and deficient spaces for both academics and athletics necessitated facility improvements. In November 2011, taxpayers approved a $160,000,000 referendum to dramatically improve both Lake Central High School—serving the towns of St. John, Schererville, and Dyer—and Protsman Elementary School, serving the town of Dyer. Schmidt Associates mobilized quickly and developed a plan to deliver flexible and transformational spaces to meet the needs of Lake Central High School students, teachers, and the community. The renovation and additions to Lake Central High School involved removing more than half of the existing building, as well as providing 550,000 sq. ft. of new construction. Using technology to provide greater efficiency, Schmidt Associates created a real-time collaborative process to deliver a design that was unique to the needs of Lake Central High School. The new construction includes a three-story academic wing with 92 new classrooms—including specialty teaching spaces for art, science, vehicle repair, printing, and metalworking including CNC and water lathe machining. Other new construction included a 50-meter Olympic pool with shared community use, a competition gymnasium, 1,100-seat auditorium, music rehearsal space, and media center. The project also included new athletic facilities with artificial turf football, baseball, and softball fields and more than 1.6 million gallons of underground storm water detention. The project completed construction in the fall 2015. The freshmen who were in the original building were able to finish their high school terms in the halls of the new facility, as promised.
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