Project Description
This replacement high school was designed with extensive community input to ensure it met the district’s and community’s needs for decades. The design includes state-of-the-art spaces for MCHS’s career and art programs, including a black box theater, auditorium, agricultural shop, and fire science classroom. Efficient classroom wings can be secured separately to allow after hours use of the performance spaces and two gymnasiums. The design follows CDE and BEST grant standards, and achieved LEED Gold certification.
D/P/S worked closely with school staff and the design committee, met with the school board and local tribal council, and held multiple community open houses to solicit input and generate excitement about the new school. Additional input was solicited through an online survey and guided tours of recent high schools, and information on design progress is being shared openly through a project website.
The challenges of the project site’s steep slope and limited access have been addressed through a campus design that places the school on a high point to maximize views, efficiently separates car and bus traffic, orients the building entry toward Ute Mountain, and allows the multipurpose fields, stadium, and tennis courts to step down the hillside.