Construction Watch: McKinley High School
DATE: May 7, 2012
See the original article at Buffalo Rising (expired link)
Boston Valley Terra Cotta was contracted to provide its TerraClad ceramic rain screen system for portions of the McKinley High School expansion’s exterior cladding.
Construction Watch: McKinley High School
A $50 million renovation and expansion of McKinley High School is on track for an August completion. The work, which started in early 2010, will give the school a brand new entrance and four story addition. Originally constructed in 1964 to house a traditional vocational school, McKinley Comprehensive High School of Choice was designed without a formal entrance. The new addition will serve to remedy this problem by providing a covered pedestrian walkway through a canopied entry court into the new main lobby. The three upper floors of the addition will house 20 new classrooms.
The addition fronting Elmwood Avenue will be topped off by a green roof capable of harvesting rainwater. New water filtration systems in the planned parking lot upgrade, along with the green roof, will collect, filter, and redistribute storm water into the nearby Scajaquada Creek. The school’s four greenhouses will be outfitted with new heating and ventilation systems while one of the existing greenhouses will be replaced with a new facility featuring new HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and liquid fertilizer systems. A new outdoor courtyard in the center of the four story addition will provide classroom space for integrated horticulture, humanities, and science study. Also, energy-efficient lighting systems will be installed throughout the facility.
In addition to the new construction, the existing facility will undergo major renovations. The school’s auditorium will be revamped with new seats, curtains, lighting and sound systems. Improvements to the library will include new wood shelving, computers, a new circulation desk as well as new office space. An expanded cafeteria will feature larger windows as well an updated kitchen.
The renovation will also include a new virtual business classroom as well as a relocated media lab and eight updated science labs. An existing machine shop will be split into two visual art studios while another will be repurposed as a new fitness room. Current locker rooms will receive new lockers, showers and restrooms and the natatorium will receive new pumps and filtration systems. Music classrooms will replace the current fitness room and the existing instrumental and choral music classrooms will be renovated and expanded. Handicap accessibility will be expanded throughout the school as well.
LP Ciminelli is the project’s construction manager and Cannon Design is project architect.
