Size Matters! Part 2

First, some business…

• Deadline to visit the Hanscom Middle School on May 21st is NOON on MONDAY (5/14)! We need a few more people in order to run the tour. Please contact Janet Gross: jgross@lincnet.org
• Tuesday, May 15^th: Community Workshop 7:00pm – 9:30pm, Reed/Brooks Gym
  • The latest info on the June 9^th concepts; time for Q&A; rank the concepts
  • The more people participate in the workshop, the easier it is to hone the presentation on June 9^th!
• Community Outreach Events:Conversational gatherings tailored to the audience on hand!
  • Monday, May 21^st, 8:30am, Lincoln Woods Common Room
  • Thursday, May 24^th, 11:00am, The Commons, Great Room
  • Friday, June 1^st, 8:15am, Story Room, Lincoln School

Can we have it all for $85M? The SBC challenged itself and the design team to consider whether, for $85M, it is possible to have a compact, educationally transformative, energy efficient building that supports our current curriculum, accommodates our class size policy, and provides enrollment flexibility.  How much square footage would we need, and what would be the trade-offs?

• Big Picture Cost: Based on the MSBA’s preK-8 model, and accounting for Lincoln-specific curriculum, class-size, and enrollment flexibility factors, a new preK-8 school with a planned enrollment of 660 would need to be about 130,000 – 135,000SF. At $625 – $650/SF for total project cost/SF, the estimated price range would be $81.3M – $87.8M.
• Trade-offs: No Auditorium; reduction from 2 large gyms to 1 full-sized gym (about Smith Gym size) + a multi-purpose room (about ½ the size of a gym).
  • The Donaldson/Brooks Auditorium w/lecture hall & stage is ~8450SF, and seats about 625. In an all new building, there would be a dining commons that seats up to 350, and incorporates a stage. As noted in last week’s post, towns are required to hold Town Meeting within their borders, and there are also robust drama/music/community programs that fully utilize the Auditorium.
  • The Smith Gym w/stage is ~7600SF; Reed Gym w/locker rooms is ~11,100SF.
  • All of the concepts on the table renovate the Auditorium and the Reed Gym, preserving two “over-sized” (in MSBA terms), but heavily used spaces that are a vital part of the community.
• At its May 2^ndmeeting, the SBC came to the conclusion that a project that eliminates the Auditorium or the Reed Gym is not a viable solution to meet the needs of the school or the Town.

What are the educational differences between L2, L3, and C? A lot of the conversation in SBC meetings and in the wider community has been about understanding the educational (and cost) differences between these three concepts.

Current Educational Space Model vs Transformational Educational Space Model:  All 3 concepts include a dining commons that creates a new, centralized “heart” of the school.  The differences between the concepts are: 1) level of renovation; 2) amount of new construction; and 3) how the educational spaces are organized.

• L2 provides a very nicely renovated version of the current educational model: strings of classrooms along a corridor. There are a couple of “flexible spaces” built in that could be shared among grade levels. They are not adjacent to all of the classrooms that might want to use them. At this conceptual phase, the breakdown of renovation/new construction for L2 is as follows:
  • Modest Renovation = 108,380 SF ($250/SF construction cost)
  • Medium Renovation = 13,023 SF ($300/SF construction cost)
  • New Construction = 36,942 SF ($430 – $500/SF construction cost)
• L3 allows for heavier renovation and some more new construction, which gives the project enough space and budget to transform how the grade 3 – 8 classrooms are organized. The “hub spaces” are common areas that are adjacent to the classrooms and shared by a teaching team.  This allows the teaching model to move from 1 teacher/1 classroom to a team of teachers/grade level. The goal is to meet students’ needs by being able to flexibly group students on a daily basis. To hear more about this kind of model, watch the presentation a group of Lincoln-resident educators made to the SBC. At this conceptual phase, the breakdown of renovation/new construction for L3 is as follows:
  • Modest Renovation = 65,890 SF ($250/SF construction cost)*
  • Medium Renovation = 39,835 SF ($300/SF construction cost)
  • Heavy Renovation = 21,803 SF ($400/SF construction cost)
  • New Construction = 39,160 SF ($430 – $500/SF construction cost)
• C achieves the transformation of teaching spaces as described in L3, has more new construction, and allows more flexibility in how the classroom neighborhoods are arranged. At this conceptual phase, the breakdown of renovation/new construction for C is as follows:
  • Modest Renovation = 22,319 SF ($250/SF construction cost)
  • Medium Renovation = 26,275 SF ($300/SF construction cost)
  • Heavy Renovation = 17,513 SF ($400/SF construction cost)
  • New Construction = 86,791 SF ($430 – $500/SF construction cost)

*Construction costs only include materials and labor – no site work, temporary facilities, escalation, design/engineering fees, or furniture and equipment.

Can we get all the educational benefits of L3 at an L2 price? The short answer is no. The level of renovation that is built into the L2 concept does not allow for the internal reorganization of grade levels. That is what keeps the price lower.

What about those hallways? There has been discussion about the amount of the school currently dedicated to hallways, and how that might change in a more compact school.  Turns out that “apples and oranges” got tangled up in the same basket, and the 50,000SF vs 25,000SF information shared at recent meetings confused the total grossing factor (bathrooms, closets, hallways) with just the hallway space.  The square footage needed to move people from one place to another is roughly the same for the L concepts and the C concept.  However, what does change is the linear distance traveled from one location to another. For example, Kindergarten students currently walk about 600ft from their classrooms to art class.  In the C design, that changes to about 375ft.

Click to see an invitation to Town Meeting: