Architects provide floorplan for MHS
By CHUCK CLEMENT, Staff Reporter
During their presentation on proposed renovations to the Madison High School building, architects from Baldridge and Nelson displayed a floor plan of the rebuilding results to school board members during their Monday night meeting.
Jeff Nelson, Baldridge and Nelson's president, told the board members that the Sioux Falls firm had reviewed the current use of the building and determined which improvements could improve the high school facility.
Some of the most visible changes under consideration include new construction on both sides of the high school's front entrance. A new, combined high school-middle school library was laid out on the east side of the front doors and new administration offices were illustrated to the west. Both areas would require some new additions.
The new, combined library would fill space currently used by the high school art and family & consumer sciences departments. It would also fill new floor space added onto the front of the building.
The architects have proposed replacing the current library areas in both schools with classrooms.
The proposed library would serve as a media center where students could listen to audio recordings, work with video equipment and conduct information searches. It would also have a small conference room and display areas.
The administration office area would move into newly-constructed space on the west side of the entrance. The offices for the superintendent, principal and other administrators would run along a new southern, outer wall. The staff would use some of the current office area for reception, storage and records.
The architects also propose moving the counselors' office and nurse's room to an area between the administration office hallway and high school auditorium.
The space currently occupied by the high school library would provide an area for additional classrooms and restrooms.
The new plans insert a dedicated area near the auditorium for the special education program.
The architects transformed the current high school gym into space for the band and chorus programs with practice rooms, offices and a music library.
The northwestern section of the high school would provide space for building maintenance and the programs for wood shop, auto and welding, tools and storage. The architects also provided classrooms for visual arts, agriculture, industrial arts and culinary arts.
The new building design would provide two new science labs and expanded space for current lab areas.
The architects' plans also add a major new addition to the north of the current middle school gym -- a new high school gym that would seat between 2,000 to 2,500 spectators. The new construction would include space for four locker rooms, offices, a mechanical room, classroom, fitness center, booster club office and entry area. The new area for the gym would fill most of the proposed 62,000 square feet of construction.
Nelson said the ability to close off the rest of the school building during athletic events was an added attraction to the location of the new gym.
The architects estimate that their plans would renovate about 65,700 square feet of the current school building for a cost of $7.4 million. The added new construction of 62,000 square feet would amount to $8.64 million for a total of about $16 million.
©Madison Daily Leader 2010