Prepared to enter the design development phase, the Bainbridge Island School District was scheduled to present an update of Wilkes Elementary’s schematic design at its meeting Thursday.
“What we will be looking for from the board is their blessing and direction to move forward,” said Tamela VanWinkle, district capital projects and facilities director.
The 63,000-square foot, primarily single-story building will be situated on the upper western portion of the site, and will be designed to accommodate 450 students from pre-kindergarten through fourth grade. The design will take advantage of the slope of the 9.3-acre site and will also include a 2,000-square foot, covered play structure.
“What we’re looking for this evening is board direction to move into design development,” VanWinkle said Thursday. “[The board] will have a chance to comment on any concerns that they might have. Then we will incorporate those into the approval. We’ll put all of that information into a report that we’ll bring back at the end of August.”
The schematic design has had minimal changes since the start of the process, VanWinkle said. The design development phase, which overlaps with schematic design, will address building specifics such as the interior, the exterior and materials.
Buses will access the school from Day Road, with the bus loop located on the northern side of the site. The kindergarten will be situated in the northwest corner of the building with close access to buses.
Bars of classrooms will serve as “fingers knitting into the sloped landscape,” and will feature exterior courtyards.
The music classroom, commons and gym will be “tucked within the grade at the southeast corner of the building.” The goal of the placement is to allow direct access to the play fields.
The first phase of construction is scheduled to begin in April or May 2011 and the second phase will begin in July 2012. Students are scheduled to move into the new building in September 2012, with site demolition scheduled for completion in November 2012.
