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Boston Habor Elementary School
Project: Boston Harbor Elem. School. Olympia, Washington
Firm: The BJSS Group
Principal in Charge: Steve Johnson Senior Project Architect: Bob Maben Project Design: Chris Johnson Project Architects: Andrew Mitchell Lee Knawa
This project, an AIA award winner, was a replacement for an existing school well beyond its service life. The school is situated on a peninsular area of land jutting into Puget Sound. Its service area was too small to support a full-sized prototype so a one-off design was called for. This created an opportunity to do something unique.
The project was designed to recall nautical forms and images formerly found along the Puget Sound waterfront. The repetitive peaked roof forms and the square, boxy form of the multipurpose room further this intent. Light fixtures and other ancillary equipment were selected for compatibility with the nautical image.
Plan organization was very logical and straightforward. Two corridors forming an ‘L’ flanked the adjacent sides of the multi-purpose room. Classrooms, libraries and administrative spaces front off this corridor.
Provisions were made to accommodate the Northwest’s rainy climate by incorporating a covered play area open to the outside.
The availability of quality wood products in the Northwest makes it cost effective for uses other than traditional stick framed residential. As such this school was framed out entirely in wood. To make the use of wood framing possible full sprinklering of the facility was used as a trade off for one-hour construction throughout. Extra attention to detailing wall assemblies was called for, as gypsum board /wood stick framing does not have the organic ‘do it all qualities' of masonry block. (sound control, fire resistance, impact resistance).
