School design often calls for outside perspective

DLR’s work in the schools sector led World Architecture Magazine to rank it No. 1 worldwide in education services, based on annual fee revenue.

DLR, founded in Omaha, Neb., in 1966 as Dana, Larson & Roubal Associates, is now a national firm with 13 offices, including a Kansas City area site in Olathe, Kan. Last year, DLR collected $54 million in fees from its education sector work, said Jim French, senior principal at DLR and leader of the K-12 practice sector. In the past five years, DLR has planned and designed more than $3 billion in K-12 school construction comprising more than 10 million square feet.

So what brings a national powerhouse like DLR to Springfield?

According to French, it’s an ongoing revolution in how schools approach curriculum.

Education design

With technology making the world smaller all the time, “what school districts are beginning to do is look for some outside expertise to help them with some of the planning and programming and the initial design work,” French said.

As school facilities are get larger, educators are turning to small learning communities – small groups of students and teachers that give the feel of a small school environment – to personalize the education experience. Facility design can aid this process.

Also, “school districts want to be more sophisticated in the way they deliver the educational program,” French said.

That means more technology, early emphasis on career paths and spaces in which students can apply what they are learning.

When districts decide they want to embrace these kinds of approaches, they sometimes turn to specialist firms such as DLR.

It’s not that local architects aren’t capable of the work, but “having somebody that has dealt with these situations and speaks about these things nationally at conferences is a little more comforting to those school districts that feel they want to explore (new) educational curriculum,” French said.

Local vs. outside firms

For a large firm like DLR, coming into smaller markets like Springfield can be a difficult proposition. The firm’s success in doing so is due in part to the team approach it takes with local architects.

“I think it’s probably good business for them from the standpoint that it’s sometimes difficult for a large firm to just come into a local community and step in without someone who knows the local market,” said Jim Lohmeyer, vice president of Lohmeyer-Russell Architects PC, which worked with DLR on the Parkview project.

“What we try to do, and what I try to tell the local architects, is our firm does not like to come in and be the lead designer and design without our partners involved,” French said.

“We try to get our partners involved from start to finish.”

That’s important, according to Lohmeyer. Bad feelings result when a large firm comes in and uses a smaller local firm only for its construction administration services and political connections.

“When we teamed up with the Parkview project, it was certainly very much a team effort and a shared effort throughout the process,” Lohmeyer said, adding, “It worked out fine in that regard.”

It’s likely that the local design community will continue to see large outside firms taking an interest in Springfield as it grows.

“You’re always going to see outside interests coming in,” Lohmeyer said, setting up local offices or teaming with local companies, “and that’s not bad.”

Bidding wars

Local growth and a strong market are what’s drawing outside interest like never before, said architect Michael Sapp, principal with Sapp Design Associates Architects PC, in a fall interview.

“We’re seeing more entities than ever bidding on projects because it’s so flush,” he said.

Even so, there should still be plenty of work to go around.

“The reality is in the last five years our community has struggled to meet the demand of the construction that’s out there,” said architect Jim Stufflebeam with Sapp Design Associates. “That’s why we’ve seen an influx of other contractors coming to this region.”

Both Lohmeyer and Stufflebeam agree that the influx of outside firms is a good thing for the area and for project owners.

“Springfield, as well as any other community, can always use quality people wherever they come from,” Stufflebeam said.

But while SDA is open to contractors that may not be native to the area, “I’d say there’s some preference for local contractors,” Stufflebeam added.

As for how long it takes for a firm to be considered local once they establish operations in the Ozarks, “it depends on who you ask,” Sapp said. “There are some companies that have been here 10 years or more and they’re still considered out-of-town contractors, even though they’ve played a major role in the success of our community.”

R-XII Project Update

The following local and out-of-area firms have been selected to work on Springfield Public Schools projects funded by the $96.5 million bond issue passed by voters April 4, 2006.

Local firms

Jack Ball and Associates Architects PC is the architectural/engineering firm for the new Hickory Hills Elementary School.

Butler, Rosenbury & Partners Inc. is the architect for the $3.3 million Weller Elementary School addition and the Wanda Gray Elementary School remodel and addition.

Gaskin Hill Norcross of Missouri Inc. is the architect on the Glendale High School project.

Olsson Associates (local office) is the architectural/ engineering firm for air-conditioning projects at Pershing Middle School and Jeffries Elementary.

Sapp Design Associates Architects PC is the architect for the $1 million, eight-classroom addition at Wilson’s Creek 5-6 School and the Cherokee Middle School remodel/rebuild project.

Out-of-area firms

Beringer Ciaccio Dennell Mabrey of Omaha, Neb., is the architect for the new elementary school project on Golden Avenue.

Bond Wolfe Architects Inc. of St. Louis is the architect for the Hillcrest High School science lab project.

DLR Group of Omaha, Neb., is the architect for the Weaver Elementary School addition.

Facility Solutions Group of Elk Grove Village, Ill., is the architectural/engineering firm for air-conditioning projects at Study Middle School and Bissett Elementary, using a modified design/build model.

Hurst-Rosche Engineers of Hillsboro, Ill., is the architectural/engineering firm for air-conditioning projects at Pleasant View Middle School and Watkins Elementary.[[In-content Ad]]