Masonry Magazine April 2004 Page. 29
Cost Savings through Masonry:
The Festus Middle School
EVERY DOLLAR COUNTS in elementary and secondary school construction. It's a field characterized by two kinds of budgets: tight and tighter. As funds have dried up, school districts have had to pay special attention to long-term cost efficiencies when erecting new buildings.
Approximately 25 miles to the south of St. Louis, on the outskirts of a scenic Missouri forest, the city of Festus has been experiencing a mushrooming population growth. Like many growing areas, the residents of Festus found their existing school stock insufficient to handle the influx of new residents. Needing a new middle school, they passed a bond issue and turned to Kromm, Rikimaru & Johansen, Inc. (KRJ) of St. Louis to design their new building.
The experienced designers at KRJ realized that school operating funds are scarce. With this in mind, they knew the wisest course would be to utilize materials that would reduce costs over the total life of the building. Although initial construction costs once drove materials decisions, KRJ took the approach that, to ensure maximum benefit from each expenditure, they should focus on life cycle costs. Reducing operating costs over the lifetime of a building was the surest way to put more funds toward the students' education rather than building maintenance and energy expenses.
In addition to the design challenge, KRJ was faced with yet another obstacle. Festus school officials wanted to speed the opening of their new intermediate school by two months, to the start of the second semester in early January, rather than at the end of February as originally scheduled.
So how to solve the problems of cost and speed? Conferring with school officials, the architects decided that masonry construction would provide the benefits for which they were searching.
The first step in the design process was checking out the local buildings in Festus, since the designers believe that new construction should reflect the style and ornamentation of an area's existing architecture. Some of the buildings in the downtown area exhibited attractive Doric columns. To mimic this detail, KRJ created a Doric aspect to the design by including a slight inset of darker colors at the front entryway, projecting the feel of Doric columns at minimal expense. For continuity, this pilaster is repeated in the same proportion throughout the front elevation.
To accommodate the tight schedule, the architects called for simple, straightforward ornamentation. Again, they found inspiration in Festus when they saw a diamond shape on a prominent building. This led to their creation of a string of blue diamond-shaped accents, placed at the top of the school's front elevation. The face of each diamond is made up of a blue glazed block surrounded by glazed brick. Above and below the diamonds, horizontal bands of triangular-shaped brick produce shadow lines as the day progresses, proving to be a simple but effective way of working within the deadline cost-effectively.
Durability
RANKING THE DURABILITY of block at the top of the list of concrete masonry's cost-saving benefits, KRJ called for concrete masonry as the dominant material throughout the interior.
"Some materials are susceptible to damage," the firm's Steve Anton says. "But not masonry; it's fairly indestructible and you don't have to worry about how well it will be maintained. With an occasional painting, the interior masonry will serve the district for many years."
The selection of block for the gymnasium, cafeteria and other areas of high abuse was a logical choice. But KRJ also called for block in the corridors, as well as in the less trafficked areas, taking full advantage of block's cost-saving attributes.
"Those of us who have been in the schools business long enough know that interior block walls are the best way to go for long-term durability," says Dr. Martin Boyer, Festus School District Asst. Superintendent in charge of facilities. "Although block may cost a little more up front, it's the right way to go long-term because of its low maintenance requirements. You can plan on a lot of student abuse of materials over the decades, and block is the answer."
Low Maintenance
REPAIRS WITH CONCRETE masonry are infrequent because block resists marring, gouging and scratching much better than competing materials, resulting in lowered maintenance costs. In addition to these economies,