The Grant Center for the Expressive Arts is a new 50,000 SF elementary school which features a theater space for performances and a central courtyard for use as an outdoor classroom. Corner windows on the low classroom areas bring in large amounts of natural light to the interior spaces, while large clerestory windows flood the high bay spaces, accentuating the combination of glulam beams supporting acoustic metal decking.

PCS created rod brace frames that allow nearly all of the wall length at the high bay spaces to be opened up for the large clerestory windows. Steel tubes act as vertical frame elements as well as wind columns to support the wall out of plane. Through innovative structural detailing, PCS was also able to allow corner windows extending four feet in each direction to extend to the underside of the exterior soffit, which was only eight inches thick at the end of the four-foot overhang.
 
photography by Walker Photography