Kent Laboratory Academy serves grades 3-12 with six individualized programs that foster specialized, small group learning. Community partners, such as the University of Washington Tacoma, provide additional staff and resources to support 450 students and their families who seek an innovative option in public education. Doors are open to the community, scholars, and educators after hours: classrooms can easily be modified to host fifth graders in the morning and undergrad students in the evening.
All spaces are as adaptable as the specialized curriculum. Four learning zones incorporate three classrooms, a project or science lab, conference room, and flex space, responding to the need for both individual and group learning experiences. Even the library offers instructional areas. The commons is equally flexible in its configuration, with a stage for performances and abundant floor space for audience seating, classroom use, or lunch service. It opens to the central courtyard with play areas and one of the students’ favorites, ping pong tables. Furniture throughout the academy can be arranged to suit a variety of educational and collaboration applications. The school was designed for future expansion to accommodate increased capacity and teaching spaces.
Site work for this multi-phased redevelopment included demolition of a former elementary school. Sewer and water services were rerouted and extended to accommodate the campus layout in a two-phased approach that allowed construction flexibility during the permitting process. Frontage improvements included widening SE 108th Street and required close coordination with Lumen and Puget Sound Energy for overhead communication and power relocation. The most challenging civil elements were the stormwater design and unforeseen contaminated soils.
Our civil team worked closely with the City of Kent to expand a city-maintained detention pond to serve the site both during construction and for the final condition. The existing detention pond serves multiple uphill properties and had to remain in service during the expansion. Our team, in collaboration with the contractor and the city, was successful in keeping the facility functional throughout construction. This creative design eliminated the construction cost of a detention vault plus future maintenance costs for the Kent School District.
Because this project included demolition and early work scope, two general contractors were hired, compelling our team to be the communication link between phases. During Phase 1 demolition, the team discovered fuel tanks associated with some portables. Safe removal of the tanks and subsequent investigation to determine the extent of the contaminated soil required close coordination with specialists. This phase was completed without additional complications.
However, when the Phase 2 contractor began earthwork and grading for the new building, buried fuel tanks were again encountered, and the same specialists from Phase 1 returned to the site for their safe removal. The cooperative effort between the owner, the general contractor, and our team diminished the consequences of this unexpected discovery, resulting in minimal cost implications and no impact on the overall project schedule.
Images © Dale Lang, NW Architectural Photography