Schools

Architects Show Design Ideas for New Watertown High School

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A rendering of what a new high school could look like if it’s built on the current site and the Phillips School site. In this option, a bridge would link the buildings on the third floor. The current site, on the right, would be the location of the auditorium, gym, school administrative offices and Senior Center. The School Building Committee saw what a new Watertown High School could look like, including 3-D renderings of buildings that could be built on the two proposed locations for the school. On Wednesday night, Scott Dunlap from Ai3 Architects presented the latest renderings for the high school project during an online meeting.

Schools

Contract Extension for Architect of School Projects, Board Wants Change of Project Managers

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The plan for the Hosmer School campus presented to the School Building Committee on Jan. 23. The firm has been hired to do the final designs for the three elementary school projects. The School Building Committee said it was very pleased with the work of the architect for the three elementary school projects, so much so they would like to have Ai3 do the high school too. The reviews of the owner’s project manager, however, were not so positive, and the board will seek a new firm as the projects move forward.

Ai3

Architects Cut Millions Out of Cost Estimate for Renovating Watertown’s Elementary Schools

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The School Building Committee had some sticker shock when members saw the original cost estimate for renovating and rebuilding Watertown’s three elementary schools, but architects delved deeper into the project found ways to cut more than $40 million off the cost. On Wednesday night, Scott Dunlap, principal of Ai3 Architects, said designers found an estimated $42.7 million in savings by looking at a variety of areas. The total cost estimate, including contingency funds, design costs and other costs, would be $134.9 million. The cost estimates also include $2,800 per student for furniture, equipment and technology, with half that amount for technology, Dunlap said. A big savings — $11.9 million — would be cut by staggering the construction and using the old part of Hosmer Elemntary School as swing space during construction at Lowell and Cunniff elementary schools. This would shorten the construction schedule and would mean other schools would not need to put up modular classrooms.

This part of the savings became a topic of discussion among School Building Committee members.

Ai3

Architect Hired to Design Renovation/Rebuilding of Watertown Elementary Schools

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The Town Council approved $1.378 million to hire an architect to do the schematic designs for rebuilding, renovating and/or adding on to Watertown’s three elementary schools. 

A committee of school and town officials put out a request for proposals and received two bids. The firm they chose was Ai3 of Wayland, the same group that was hired over the summer to advise the Town and Schools about how to proceed with modernizing the town’s schools. The Town Council voted unanimously to fund the architect’s contract on Tuesday night. School Committee Chairman John Portz thanked the Town Council for approving the funding. “It is an incredibly exciting project,” Portz said.

Ai3

Architect Assures School Committee That Renovated Schools Will be ‘Like New’

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The firm hired to advise the School Committee about renovating and rebuilding the town’s schools said a renovated school would be as good as a new one, and showed before and after photos of spaces that had been transformed at other schools the firm had worked on. On Monday night, the School Committee voted to take the first step toward renovating Watertown’s three elementary schools, tasking Superintendent Dede Galdston to work with officials on the Town side to hire an owner’s project manager and a design firm. In July, architectural firm Ai3 presented a potential plan for upgrading the town’s elementary schools which called mostly for renovation of the current campuses with some new additions to the buildings. School Committee Chairman John Portz said since then he has received questions from the community about whether the renovated parts would be redesigned to meet modern standards or just brought up to working condition. Town Council President Mark Sideris got similar calls, wondering why the schools are not being torn down and rebuilt.

Scott Dunlap, principal of architecture firm Ai3, brought some photos showing schools before and after renovations.

Government

Plan Calls for Town’s Elementary Schools to be Renovated First, Then the High School

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An architecture firm hired by the Watertown Public Schools laid out a vision for how all five of the town’s schools could be renovated so they can provide a 21st century education, and recommended doing all three elementary schools at once followed by the high school and finally the middle school. Thursday night, Ai3 Principal Scott Dunlap presented a plan for upgrading Watertown’s five public schools over the next several years to a meeting held by both the School Committee and Town Council. Timeline
The timeline laid out by Ai3 – a firm that works solely on school projects – would start planning for the three elementary schools immediately with the goal of starting construction in late 2019 and completing the work by early 2021, Dunlap said. Meanwhile, the district would be working with the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) to get funding for and renovate Watertown High School. Construction would begin at the high school in early 2021. The timeline does not have an end date for work at WHS.