MARK TWAIN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ADDITION

LOCATION: Kirkland, WA

CLIENT: Lake Washington School District

ROLE/FIRM:  Project Architect, Mahlum

STATUS: Under Construction

As the Pacific Northwest experiences unprecedented growth, many schools are urgently needing to expand their campuses and services to better accommodate their communities and students. This neighborhood school, located in Kirkland, WA, required the addition of four new classrooms and a new gymnasium. Because the existing building, site and utilities were already extremely tight, it required extensive coordination with all consultants and stakeholders, and executing the project in multiple phases. As the project architect, I led the design process in finding a creative and unique solution; to add the new classrooms inside the existing 2-story library, and to then build a new library on the other end of the building adjacent to the future gym and covered play structure. This enabled the new classroom pods to remain close to the other existing learning spaces, and allow the more public functions of the gym and library on the other end of the site, which better serves not only the students and community while minimizing the building footprint. Being on the project team since conception, I was responsible for programming and planning, client interaction, concept development, code and egress analysis, permitting, consultant and contractor coordination, interior development and product selection, technical detailing, budget, bidding, and construction administration.