The leadership of the North Shore School District, community leaders and BBS Architects, Landscape Architects and Engineers celebrated the official opening of the new athletic field, running track and supporting facilities.
The district encompasses a high school, middle school and three elementary schools. BBS served the district as architect and engineer for the project. Savin Engineers provided construction management services.
“The new, $3.8-million, 100,000-square-foot sports complex replaced and expanded the deteriorated facilities which were insufficient for the needs of the district’s 2,850 students,” says BBS Director of Architecture Joseph B. Rettig, AIA, LEED AP. “The new complex includes a multi-use, synthetic turf field; an eight-lane running track; and a 1,700-square-foot concession, bathroom and storage building.”
The creative financing for the project included a combination of the district’s private/not-for-profit and other public sources. This public/private combination of funding sources was unusual for a school-related construction project, but made financing easier at the time when local property tax increases in New York State are capped at 2%. The support of the Viking Foundation allowed the district to utilize funds raised through direct taxation to maintain the necessary level of instructional activities, while still making the construction of the new field and track possible.
The BBS team faced several engineering challenges, including the requirement to protect a neighboring wetland recharge basin and a poorly draining fill and soil at the site of the new field.
The complex also includes a new, one-story, multi-purpose building that serves as the main entry port to the athletic facilities. The building consists of two structures connected by a pitched steel truss roof with gray asphalt shingles and a reverse gable. The entryway between the buildings is protected by a decorative iron gate. The entire athletic facility received a new security system. +
Related Stories
| Oct 13, 2010
HQ renovations aim for modern look
Gerner Kronick + Valcarcel Architects’ renovations to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s New York City headquarters will feature a reworked reception lobby with back-painted glass, silk-screened logos, and a video wall.
| Oct 13, 2010
New health center to focus on education and awareness
Construction is getting pumped up at the new Anschutz Health and Wellness Center at the University of Colorado, Denver. The four-story, 94,000-sf building will focus on healthy lifestyles and disease prevention.
| Oct 13, 2010
Community center under way in NYC seeks LEED Platinum
A curving, 550-foot-long glass arcade dubbed the “Wall of Light” is the standout architectural and sustainable feature of the Battery Park City Community Center, a 60,000-sf complex located in a two-tower residential Lower Manhattan complex. Hanrahan Meyers Architects designed the glass arcade to act as a passive energy system, bringing natural light into all interior spaces.
| Oct 13, 2010
Community college plans new campus building
Construction is moving along on Hudson County Community College’s North Hudson Campus Center in Union City, N.J. The seven-story, 92,000-sf building will be the first higher education facility in the city.
| Oct 13, 2010
Bookworms in Silver Spring getting new library
The residents of Silver Spring, Md., will soon have a new 112,000-sf library. The project is aiming for LEED Silver certification.
| Oct 13, 2010
County building aims for the sun, shade
The 187,032-sf East County Hall of Justice in Dublin, Calif., will be oriented to take advantage of daylighting, with exterior sunshades preventing unwanted heat gain and glare. The building is targeting LEED Silver. Strong horizontal massing helps both buildings better match their low-rise and residential neighbors.
| Oct 12, 2010
Holton Career and Resource Center, Durham, N.C.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Special Recognition. Early in the current decade, violence within the community of Northeast Central Durham, N.C., escalated to the point where school safety officers at Holton Junior High School feared for their own safety. The school eventually closed and the property sat vacant for five years.
| Oct 12, 2010
Guardian Building, Detroit, Mich.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Special Recognition. The relocation and consolidation of hundreds of employees from seven departments of Wayne County, Mich., into the historic Guardian Building in downtown Detroit is a refreshing tale of smart government planning and clever financial management that will benefit taxpayers in the economically distressed region for years to come.
| Oct 12, 2010
Richmond CenterStage, Richmond, Va.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Bronze Award. The Richmond CenterStage opened in 1928 in the Virginia capital as a grand movie palace named Loew’s Theatre. It was reinvented in 1983 as a performing arts center known as Carpenter Theatre and hobbled along until 2004, when the crumbling venue was mercifully shuttered.
| Oct 12, 2010
University of Toledo, Memorial Field House
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Silver Award. Memorial Field House, once the lovely Collegiate Gothic (ca. 1933) centerpiece (along with neighboring University Hall) of the University of Toledo campus, took its share of abuse after a new athletic arena made it redundant, in 1976. The ultimate insult occurred when the ROTC used it as a paintball venue.