Richard Riley Award
Community Learning Centers for the 21st Century
Presented by:
Mason High School & Community Center
Mason High School, located in Mason, Ohio, is an excellent example of a joint-use high school and community center. Designed by architects who were highly responsive to the needs of this fast growing community, the building was built on 56 acres of land leased from the city of Mason for a $1 a year. The 530,000 square foot complex serves 2,900 students (9th to 12th grade) in addition to being the central hub of the community.
Planning for the school began in 1999, at which time the School Board was considering a rural site on the outskirts of the town. Through a collaborative process, the School District and the City of Mason came to an agreement to develop a joint-use facility in addition to creating a village green and a new municipal building. A site was chosen in the heart of the community, at the suggestion of the architects, Voorhis Slone Welsh Crossland, Inc., adjacent to three existing schools, sports facilities and two city parks.
The collaboration created many benefits and cut costs for both the school district and the city. The long standing objective of building a new community center was realized while an estimated $12 million dollars was saved. A total of $70 million was spent to design and build the entire complex.
Located on the south side of the facility are four three-story learning communities meant to break the school into 900-student units. In turn, each floor provides classroom space for 300-350 students in addition to a computer lab and locker commons. These learning communities radiate from a centrally located courtyard which includes the administration and media center.
The “school within a school” concept has allowed Mason to create a separate academy for ninth graders and separate academic areas for subjects such as art/graphics, communications, applied technology and business education. Further efforts to decentralize and personalize the school included placing assistant principals’ offices, reception areas, conferences room, workrooms, and teacher prep areas in between two thematic centers.
To secure the safety of Mason students, areas shared by the school and the community are located in the middle of the complex and have separate entrances from the respective side of each facility. These spaces include a 25 yard x 25 meter competition pool with spectator seating for 800, a two-court gymnasium, a second floor running track, a four court multi-use field house and a 1,200 seat auditorium with scene shops and dressing rooms. The joint-use facilities are open from early in the morning to 10pm at night.
The 150,000 square foot Community Center is located at the north end of the complex with its own separate parking lots and an entrance that opens into a two-story lobby flanked by community meeting rooms on the left and a leisure pool on the right. It also provides space for two fully equipped art rooms, a childcare area, an aerobic room, a fitness area with cardio and strength machines, a teen room and a senior center.
In 2006, the school district partnered with the Atrium Medical Center to construct a new, two-story health and wellness center on the high school campus. The center is scheduled to open in 2009 and will feature a 10,000 square foot weight room, covered stadium entrance, additional concession stands and locker room space. The school district is financing the project by subleasing the second floor to the Atrium Medical Center and granting them naming rights. As a result, the hospital will pay for the facility and the school district will own the building. More importantly, the partnership with Atrium will lead to the development of a new academic career area for students interested in general medicine, physical therapy, and sports medicine.
While the project did not seek formal LEED certification, many environmental strategies were included in the design to make it more sustainable. Six landscaped courtyards provide natural light into the very center of this large complex, storm water is collected and naturally filtered by two garden detention basins before flowing into an adjacent lake, and low-flow plumbing fixtures reduces water consumption. The most important environmental factor was the initial decision by the school board and the city to apply smart growth principles early on and to locate the new complex within the confines of the existing community.