Bemidji High School

Bemidji, Minnesota

Firm

DLR Group

Client

Bemidji School District

Area

392,000 sq.ft.

Total Cost

$35,800,000

Completion Date

04/2001

Prompted by aging facilities and an increasing student population, the district hired an architect to examine the district’s facility needs and develop solutions. The result is a new high school on 260 heavily wooded acres bordered by the Mississippi River.
The educational spaces are arranged in academic clusters, each featuring general-purpose classrooms, labs, breakout spaces, a special project center and teacher planning centers.
All student-service functions—attendance and assistant principal’s offices, Native American student center, counseling office, nurse’s office, student store and bank, food service, student council and media center—are accessible from the 12,500-square-foot, technology-rich student commons, which is the hub of the facility.
Other features include a large-group room, an 1,100-seat auditorium, a black-box theater, a three-station fieldhouse and one-station auxiliary gymnasium, and an eight–lane swimming pool.
The site has been designed to accommodate outdoor learning areas as well as fields for athletic and recreational activities, including soccer, football, baseball, softball, tennis, and track and field.