Santiam Canyon Sr./Jr. High School - Education

Additional Info

Award Winner : Modern Building Systems, Inc.

Architectural Excellence : Located in the timber town of Mill City, OR the new Santiam Canyon School District Jr./Sr. High school serves nearly 300 7th–12th graders within its 41,530 square feet that are esthetically designed to honor the heritage and mountain surroundings of the town. This new school campus is comprised of three buildings all built with modular building techniques totaling 69 modules for 16 regular classrooms, a nurse training space, a science lab, culinary training, flex space, multimedia area, library, counseling, and administrative offices. The design intent behind the three separate buildings was to provide when desired proper age/grade segmentation while still allowing for a cohesive school community with multiuse spaces in each building. While the school campus is separated into three buildings the entry for the campus all filters through one main entrance in building A allowing for school administration to personally greet each student every morning.

Cost Energy Effectiveness : With a tight bond budget at their disposal, modular building construction was chosen by the school district for its speed, minimal site disturbance, sustainability, and cost-effectiveness while providing a high-quality building asset. The decision to go factory-built allowed the district to tear down its existing buildings, saving major costs in general conditions and allowing for a compressed project timeline.

If the district had chosen a traditional stick-built approach they wouldn’t have been able to concurrently build an entirely new campus and gym which would have required a longer staged construction process.

Another area of Modern’s unique design approach that provided savings was the gender-neutral bathrooms. Doing away with gender-specific restrooms resulted in less square footage and fixture count while meeting plumbing codes.

These two decisions alone saved the district upwards of $500,000.

Design Firm Name : Soderstrom Architects, Ltd.

Engineering Firm Name : Modern Building Systems

Green Building Description : Modern’s factory has a PV solar array on the roof so all of the power needed for manufacturing results in a net-zero impact. We also reduce waste by up to 90% using exact material amounts, controlling inventory items, and recycling materials. Modern’s facility is located less than 20 miles from the project allowed for reduced trucking emissions for the module hauling.
The MPP columns and all plywood products were milled less than 10 miles away by Freres Lumber. The large timber beams and all-dimensional lumber used in the project came from Mill City, OR company Frank Lumber resulting in 100% locally sourced wood products in this project.
Other sustainability and energy efficiency measures incorporated include drinking fountains with water bottle filling stations, a “Solar-Ready” design for all three buildings. A strict MEP design and commissioning program was conducted on this project resulting in mechanical and electrical systems for decreased consumption.

Installer Firm Name : Modern Building Systems

Occupied Date : 2/1/2021

Owner Firm Name : Santiam Canyon School District

Production Start Date : 1/10/2020

Project Location City : Mill City

Project Location State Name : Oregon

Technical Innovation : The Modern Building Systems team designed, manufactured, transported, and craned into place all 69 modules. Each module measured 16 feet wide, 16 feet ship height, with varying lengths of 40 to 48 feet, ultimately forming the three-building campus. The modules’ ceiling heights ranged from 9-1/2 feet to 11 feet, with some ceilings as high as 16 feet. Higher ceilings were achieved by stacking modules on top of one another. All three buildings were assembled and closed in (included setting beams, craning modules into place, installing gas, fire, and plumbing) in one month. Modern worked with Freyes Lumber, a plywood mill located within the town to incorporate their new mass timber product, mass plywood panel (MPP), and 18ft exposed structural MPP columns placed in the multipurpose and library spaces.

Total Square Feet : 41530