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PHOTO: THOMAS FRANKS |
Architect: Fred Gore, Senior Design Architect, URS Corp.
Project: East Grand Rapids Public Schools High School Athletic Additions
Owner: East Grand Rapids Public Schools
Contractor: Owens-Ames-Kimball Co.
Engineer: URS Corp.
Completed: August 2009
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Gore: Adding more educational and athletic space in an already “full” campus setting on the East Grand Rapids High School property.
Gore: We were able to nestle the needs with compact planning and “non-traditional” thinking. Any good project requires a creative and collaborative client. The EGR staff and faculty suggested and embraced placing a gymnasium on the second floor, which is not the usual location for a gym. This helped keep the plaza around the sports field open as much as possible. We used glass on the ground lobby and floor fitness center to reinforce the open feel. We use a lot of horizontal lines on the exterior to keep it looking low. Even the brick mortar joints reinforce the horizontal. The roof of the gym is nearly as high as the fly loft on the EGR Performing Arts Center, but it doesn’t look like it.
Gore: The location is not urban, but it’s certainly not suburban, either. I’ve been to an EGR/Lowell football game, and the plaza feels intimate, but not cramped. It seems even more energetic. I think the long, low look was very successful. We took the look into the 21st century by using the existing high school’s materials of brick and accent bands in different proportions and patterns.
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