John Rex Elementary

[Pete]

Preliminary designs presented for downtown Oklahoma City elementary
By Steve Lackmeyer | Published: August 16, 2012

Preliminary renderings of a new downtown elementary were presented Wednesday to the Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority with a pitch that the project, if successful, will accelerate development of new housing in the city's urban core.

John W. Rex Elementary School, a charter school to be located at Sheridan and Walker avenues, is one of the final school projects in MAPS for Kids and is thought to be part of a groundbreaking arrangement. The Oklahoma City School District could be the first public school district in the country to operate its own charter school, and will do so with nonprofit group Oklahoma City Quality Schools.

Plans call for the $14 million, 79,000 square-foot school to open in fall, 2014.


Read more: http://newsok.com/preliminary-design...#ixzz23iA3yBat

[LandRunOkie]

I think the people involved with this project deserve credit for expanding the school mandatory attendance boundaries to Western and the Oklahoma River. This will remove one more obstacle to residential growth downtown.

[mcca7596]

I think the people involved with this project deserve credit for expanding the school mandatory attendance boundaries to Western and the Oklahoma River. This will remove one more obstacle to residential growth downtown.

I'm glad they expanded it to the west and south, but I think the northern boundary should be 13th and not 10th. Consider the various Midtown Renaissance residences, both current and future, whose resident children would not be able to attend, not to mention those of the biggest project coming up, The Edge.

[wschnitt]

I am not enthusiastic about the windows.

[metro]

Love it.

[Pete]

Here are all three proposed levels:

[Pete]

More details:



John W Rex School
Design Narrative for OCURA Submission
August 8, 2012

Design work is proceeding on the John W Rex downtown school. The attached preliminary design
concept drawings begin to document the ideas for the program, arrangement of spaces in plan and
exterior appearance of the building. It has been determined that the PK to 6 grade 500 student school
will have an equal distribution of students at each grade level. Four rooms will be provided for PK and K
grade levels and grade level home bases will be provided for grades 1 through 6.

The John W Rex School is envisioned as a Boundless Academy that brings the City of Oklahoma City into
the school and launches the John W Rex students, facilitating learning relationships between students,
teachers, city leaders and parents. The entire downtown landscape is the learning environment of this
school.

The 79,000 square feet building will be three stories along Walker Avenue with the main building entry
at the corner of Walker and Sheridan. The building will extend along Sheridan with an outdoor space
separated from Sheridan by a wall and then the gymnasium facility which is a separate building. The
school, enclosed space and gymnasium are connected by a covered walk way extending towards Dewey.
The main drop off and pick up will be along Dewey and the covered walkway will be one element that
will create a sense of entry on the east side of the site.

The remainder of the site not occupied by building will be developed as outdoor learning and play areas.
We will be exploring various options for separating the site from the surrounding streets and to
effectively conceal utility services to and from the building which will most likely come from Dewey and
California.

Parking for the site will be provided for in the parking garage across the street on Sheridan. Some on
street parking exists along Walker and Sheridan and we would hope that signage could be approved by
the City of Oklahoma City which would restrict parking in these areas during peak school usage periods.

The Dewey drop off pick up location affords us suitable queuing area along Dewey and California to
accommodate anticipated parent traffic. We will also be exploring areas where parents of younger
children can park for 15 minutes when they walk their children into school; this action could also be
handled by staffing greeting students at the cars and walking them in. Now that the building layout is
being finalized site development and engineering work can proceed.

The north end of the first floor of the main building is used for more public functions, lobby, community
hub, food service and administration; the south end will be where pre-kindergarten and kindergarten
rooms are located. The entry will be a two story space with significant glass opening up to the northeast
and the downtown.

The second floor will consist of three Home Base areas for grades 1, 2 and 3, the third floor will also
have three Home Bases for grades 4, 5 and 6. Each Home Base will accommodate all of the students in
that grade and will have a diversity of learning spaces that reinforce the curriculum approach.

The exterior of the building will be brick with punched opening, the northeast corner will consist of a
two story glass space opening up the school to the City and inviting the City into the school. Color will be
playfully used on window frames and in curtain wall as a reminder that this is an elementary school.

[dankrutka]

I am not enthusiastic about the windows.

Funny. That was the first I noticed. Love them!

[wschnitt]

So the Gym, which was originally tagged "future," is not a part of the project?

[Spartan]

I do think the final product will look very different because "dark" iron spotted brick isn't usually white..

[Larry OKC]

maybe I am just missing it, but where are the classrooms...looks like an open floor concept...entire grade in one big room???

[Pete]

From newsok.com:

[Just the facts]

maybe I am just missing it, but where are the classrooms...looks like an open floor concept...entire grade in one big room???

There is only one class per grade. This school isn't going to have 1000 students with 5 classes of 3rd graders.

[Pete]

The school is going to have 500 students, so that would be about 60-70 per grade.

[Spartan]

So the Gym, which was originally tagged "future," is not a part of the project?

It might not be funded by MAPS 4 Kids.

[Frustratedoptimist]

Are they still planning to add a grade every year up to 12th, after the initial elementary build out? Or did I dream that Humphreys said that at the Mayor's Round Table?

[Pete]

New application for this school just filed with the Downtown Design Review Committee to be reviewed October 18.

This project is definitely moving along.

[Spartan]

Anyone notice the resemblance to TAP's new parking garage design?

They're just rubber-stamping this look all across downtown now.

[LuccaBrasi]

I would think TAP's design consultant, Cannon Design's Chicago office, is leading the charge for the programming and overall design. I'm sure the two firms collaborate, but Cannon would likely not rubber stamp the local firm's design. I have heard that the cost estimate TAP recently presented is well below what this facility will cost if they keep the quality and level of finishes at a high level, which I'm sure they will, so keep a watchful eye on the budget versus the overall scope of the design as this progresses forward.

[Larry OKC]

So the Gym, which was originally tagged "future," is not a part of the project?

It might not be funded by MAPS 4 Kids.

it should be funded...
http://www.okgazette.com/oklahoma/ar...hool-work.html

The trust approved a grant from the John W. Rex board for an additional $2.4 million for construction and architectural work. The money will provide for a gymnasium that otherwise could not be built, since the school does not qualify to receive funds from the school district’s 2007 bond to put gyms in all district elementary schools. A gym was not part of the school’s original MAPS for Kids plan, Humphreys told the trust.

So I am confused, is the gym funded or not? Why didn't it qualify for the 2007 bond money?

Mick Cornett: The Wrath Of Grapes: Oklahoma City MAPS Its Future
According to Mayor Cornett:

With the addition of a $180-million bond issue and an eye on addressing childhood obesity issues, new gymnasiums were added to all of the Oklahoma City elementary schools.

[Pete]

These are the latest plans submitted to the Downtown Design Review committee to be considered in their meeting next week:

[Just the facts]

The learning curve must be steep than I thought. Everybody on this project shold go live in a populated downtown somewhere for 2 months then come back and try again.

[Praedura]

This looks really interesting. My only request is to not run just a 6' sidewalk but since this is Urban Core, the sidewalk needs to run up to the curb. Trees and street lights should be within the sidewalk itself. This will make the entire sidewalk closer to 10-12' which is the minimum you want for a high-density urban block.

I agree. Those sidewalks look way too narrow as is. You'll have lots of foot traffic when school is in session, and you don't want to have a lot of it diverted around the trees towards the curbside just so people can fit through.

Also, those holes in the overhead near the drop off area (third pic)... really? That may look snazzy in a sketch, but doesn't seem too practical. You don't want rain and other precip falling through that and onto the people coming and going. A solid surface would be simpler and make more sense.

Also, just in general, there doesn't seem to be many windows in the structure. I guess the students are expected to pay attention to the inside activities and not stare out the window (but that was a favorite pastime of mine when I was a kid!)

But, on the whole, it looks nice. I don't know enough about school building design, though, to make any detailed criticism.

[dankrutka]

As an educator, I can say that if windows are distracting students then they weren't paying attention in the first place. Parts of the building definitely need more windows.

[TechArch]

This looks really interesting. My only request is to not run just a 6' sidewalk but since this is Urban Core, the sidewalk needs to run up to the curb. Trees and street lights should be within the sidewalk itself. This will make the entire sidewalk closer to 10-12' which is the minimum you want for a high-density urban block.

The renderings don't match the site plan in regards to the sidewalk. The rendering shows a 6' sidewalk like you stated, but the site plan shows it around the trees. Hopefully it does take up the entire area.