In 2006, the Northshore School District challenged its team with rebuilding most of Woodinville High School with staged, uncertain funding, while full of students, and with an outstanding end facility. PCS and the team responded with a two-phase plan, the latter pending another bond measure.
Flexible design was essential. “Perhaps the most significant challenge during Phase 1 was designing a building with the intent – but not a guarantee – of a second construction phase,” says PCS President Craig Stauffer in Structural Engineering & Design. Phase 1 had to stand alone, or integrate with Phase 2, both cost-efficiently. Solutions included oversized matt foundations to accommodate future columns and frames, a basement wall that doubles as lateral shear support for Phase 2, and independent seismic bracing for each phase. The steel structural system was repeated in both phases for economies of scale, including internal concentric brace frames to maximize window area.
Phase 2 brought a new opportunity: BIM had progressed enough that the whole team agreed to use it as the primary design platform. This paid off, for example integrating the new and existing buildings, and displaying the intricate framing system at seismic joints, a complex puzzle to understand in 2-D.
