New Albany High School, Additions and Renovations

New Albany, Indiana

Firm

The Odle McGuire & Shook Corporation

Client

New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corporation

Area

267,500 sq.ft.

Total Cost

$47,048,430

Completion Date

04/2002

The existing New Albany High School was hemmed in on three sides by busy urban thoroughfares. The only place for expansion was on the football field, toward which the school had been creeping through a series of previous additions. From the back, which had become the main entry by virtue of use, it had all the appeal of an industrial factory. Its infrastructure was deteriorating, and its technology was patchy and inconsistent.
The planning and design team worked with the administration, faculty and community to define a vision for the school’s future, to refine its educational program and to understand the community. With new construction and renovations, the design coordinates the tradition of the old structure with new improvements that enhance the history of the school.
With the addition of ninth-grade students, the number of classrooms increased from 73 to 121. Additions also included a new administrative/counseling area, athletic offices, a clinic, bookstore, food-service areas, performing-arts areas, an auditorium, business classrooms, a media center, a radio/TV suite, auxiliary gym, science labs, special-needs facilities and a music department.
Renovations to art, English, foreign language, social studies and math classrooms, and the gymnasium and locker room areas were designed to aid in larger class sizes and to create an atmosphere more conducive to learning.
To create safer and more convenient site circulation, the bus dropoff areas, football field, tennis courts and playing fields were redesigned and relocated. An upgrade of the heating and air-conditioning systems, technology infrastructure, lockers, windows and flooring have left New Albany High School with a 21st-century facility, while still retaining the traditional look of the building’s west side.