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Plans for the proposed McDonald County Crowder College campus took center stage during the school’s board meeting Thursday morning.
Representatives from Pellham Phillips Architects Engineers presented board members with schematic drawings for the project. The building will be clad in cypress siding with four large pillars in the front. It will have nursing, biology, chemistry and computer labs, seven classrooms, a bookstore, student center, office space and a conference area upstairs. It is approximately 360-feet in length and half as wide, designed as a series of connected cubes. The building will have approximately squareface, 3,000 of those in a glass-walled second floor room overlooking the student center below.
Board members had asked Pellham Phillips to stake the building and went out to walk its footprint. A survey of the property will be complete shortly.
“It’s bigger than I thought it was,” said board member Jim Tatum.
Board members asked about moving the building 100 feet closer to the roadway. The views of the Jane building from the highway and the interior views to the surrounding campus are important, board members noted. Project architect Phil Young noted that the school may need to remove some trees to increase visibility on approaches from the north and south, but the main entrance view will be obscured because of a bermed hill and the low elevation of State Highway 71 at that point.
The board discussed options for exterior stone and roof finishes. For the entry posts they asked the architect to look into steel posts wrapped in cypress to keep costs down. An Arkansas supplier will be able to provide the wood and Young asked the board about finishes.
“The cypress is really light,” he told the board, noting options for stain, clear sealant, or leaving the wood as-is. “If we leave it natural it will end up graying almost to a barn look.”
Plans call for the building to be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certified and board members debated several mechanical options. They asked architectural engineer Larry Phillips about ductless air-to-air systems versus ground source. Phillips told them mechanical plans for the building would be designed to complement its architecture.
“We will explore several systems,” Phillips said. “Every time we do a building it’s like a research and design project. Each building should be designed on its own merits. There’s not a one size fits all – especially in the mechanical side of things.”
Plans for the proposed McDonald County Crowder College campus took center stage during the school’s board meeting Thursday morning.
Representatives from Pellham Phillips Architects Engineers presented board members with schematic drawings for the project. The building will be clad in cypress siding with four large pillars in the front. It will have nursing, biology, chemistry and computer labs, seven classrooms, a bookstore, student center, office space and a conference area upstairs. It is approximately 360-feet in length and half as wide, designed as a series of connected cubes. The building will have approximately squareface, 3,000 of those in a glass-walled second floor room overlooking the student center below.
Board members had asked Pellham Phillips to stake the building and went out to walk its footprint. A survey of the property will be complete shortly.
“It’s bigger than I thought it was,” said board member Jim Tatum.
Board members asked about moving the building 100 feet closer to the roadway. The views of the Jane building from the highway and the interior views to the surrounding campus are important, board members noted. Project architect Phil Young noted that the school may need to remove some trees to increase visibility on approaches from the north and south, but the main entrance view will be obscured because of a bermed hill and the low elevation of State Highway 71 at that point.
The board discussed options for exterior stone and roof finishes. For the entry posts they asked the architect to look into steel posts wrapped in cypress to keep costs down. An Arkansas supplier will be able to provide the wood and Young asked the board about finishes.
“The cypress is really light,” he told the board, noting options for stain, clear sealant, or leaving the wood as-is. “If we leave it natural it will end up graying almost to a barn look.”
Plans call for the building to be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certified and board members debated several mechanical options. They asked architectural engineer Larry Phillips about ductless air-to-air systems versus ground source. Phillips told them mechanical plans for the building would be designed to complement its architecture.
“We will explore several systems,” Phillips said. “Every time we do a building it’s like a research and design project. Each building should be designed on its own merits. There’s not a one size fits all – especially in the mechanical side of things.”
Two budget options were presented – a LEED certified $142-square-foot option and a LEED gold $170-square-foot option. Young said he planned to submit a LEED certification plan more than 45 points in order to earn certification as they may deny several points. Tatum asked the engineer to look at efficiency and operating costs when choosing heating and air options.
Once decisions are made on the finishes the architectural firm will provide a complete exterior color mockup. Design development would be the next phase and the full plans and construction documents could be completed before December.
“Design development is where we really start looking into the actual nuts and bolts of it,” Young said.
The project would take about a year to build, Young estimated, but its construction is contingent on available funds. Estimates from Pellham Phillips put the project between $5.3 to $6.3 million. The Crowder foundation is preparing to kick off a fundraising venture for the project.
“The people are excited about this possibility,” Tatum said.
Many of those he has talked to have heard about the project and the question he always hears is “when.” That depends on the money.
“A lot of it has to do with the fundraiser,” Tatum said.
The school is looking toward private fundraising instead of a bond issue. Some unsolicited pledges and even donations have come in for the building’s construction already.
