Somerset Junior High School, Somerset, Texas
by Jonathan McGaha | 31 March 2013 12:00 am
Somerset Junior High School in
Somerset, Texas, was built in response to a growing student population as the original junior high school built in 1986 for 350 students now housed 600. A $13 million bond issue allowed the Somerset Independent School District to build a new facility at $127 per square foot that was finished in 11 months. Before work began on the project, some site drainage work was needed, according to Mark Hodges, associate, architect and project manager with OCO Architects, San Antonio.
Additionally, the school is in a rural area with no sewer system to tie into. A new sewer treatment facility required a separate package on which to bid, and also because of the rural setting, the two-lane road on which the school is located had to be widened for acceleration and deceleration lanes.
Due to utilities issues toward the end of the project, move-in was slightly delayed, so students spent the first two weeks of school in their current buildings. Once the new school was ready, the transition took place over a weekend.
Time was of the essence in getting the school built. “This is usually an 18-month project,” Hodges notes. “It was a big risk to build in 11 months.” He and his coworkers began the design in January 2011, moving to design and bidding by July. “We consolidated all this to seven months. That was a challenge.”
Ceco supplied its metal framing system; $1.8 million of steel; 3-inch R19 insulated wall panels in Pacific Blue and Tan, applied horizontally; and a Double-Lok Galvalume roof.
Some unconventional design elements included tapering columns from base to top frame connection to the outside instead of to the inside as is more typical; varying the uses of clerestories for windows to allow light into the major corridors; using exposed frames for the canopies; and using the insulated metal panels alone for the school’s exterior walls.
Alpha Consulting Engineers, San Antonio, was the structural engineer, and Gamma Construction, Houston, was the general contractor.
Ceco Building Systems, www.cecobuildings.com
Source URL: https://www.metalconstructionnews.com/projects/somerset-junior-high-school-somerset-texas/