Louisa County High School
Additional Info
Award Winner : M Space Holdings LLC
Architectural Excellence : Louisa County was in desperate need of a temporary high school after a magnitude-5.8 earthquake tore through its city, destroying two of its schools. Its impact left 1,500 students without a safe learning environment and prompted school officials to turn to modular construction to quickly rebuild. M SPACE constructed 134,756 sq. ft. of modular space for the high school to help Louisa County’s earthquake recovery efforts and enable students to quickly return to a normal five-day class schedule. Placed on the parking lot outside the damaged high school, M SPACE configured 154 pre-leased modules to form a complete campus. The campus includes 99 classrooms, a library, cosmetology lab, art room, cafeteria, exercise/weight room with lockers, administrative offices, nurse’s office and handicap accessible restrooms. M SPACE chose site specific exterior paint to blend all of the units and give the campus a cohesive feel. Buildings were finished with aluminum decks, ramps and stairs.
Cost Energy Effectiveness : M SPACE selected existing buildings that could be reconfigured, refurbished, delivered and set as quickly as possible, while remaining cost effective. The entire modular high school campus was completed in just 60 days and was configured to mirror a conventionally constructed high school, at a fraction of the price. M SPACE was able to engineer foundations to be placed on top of the existing asphalt, saving the client additional money. Modular construction eliminated the cost and inconvenience of bussing students to other locations. It also allowed the school to meet required clock hours for a complete school year, enabled senior students to graduate on time and provided a complete campus that is conducive to learning.
Occupied Date : 2/1/2012
Production Start Date : 12/1/2011
Project Location City : Mineral
Project Location State Name : VA
Technical Innovation : To get students back to class as soon as possible, M SPACE utilized pre-leased buildings that could begin being delivered in just a week’s time. The units were re-purposed to meet the specific requirements of the high school. The cosmetology lab was equipped with extra sinks and electrical loads for hair appliances and the exercise/weight room had extra blocking installed under the unit to accommodate the heavy equipment. By reusing buildings, the school district not only saved time and money, but also reduced the impact on the environment. Each room has programmable thermostats to lower heating and cooling costs. Energy efficient fluorescent lights with electronic ballasts and T-8 bulbs were used along with photocells in porch lights to automatically turn lights on at dusk and off at dawn, thus saving energy. Lastly, R-11 sound reduction batts in the interior walls of classrooms reduce sound transfer and noise disruptions.
Total Square Feet : 134756
Category : Renovated Reuse: Greatest Renovation: under 10,000 sq. ft.