School board OKs design for new middle school
September 29, 2010
By Sebastian Moraga
It’s so nice that by 2013 they’ll have built it twice.
Twin Falls Middle School in North Bend will provide the footprint for the new Snoqualmie Middle School that will open, voters willing, in September of that year.
While having the same three-forks look of Twin Falls, Snoqualmie Middle will have its own feel, the architects in charge of the design said.
“Twin Falls will be the prototype but it [Snoqualmie] won’t be identical,” said Bill Chaput, principal-in-charge of the Kirkland architectural firm Hutteball & Oremus.
He later added that the Snoqualmie Middle students will feel “like they have their own identity and their own school.”
A different color scheme, a different location for certain rooms, one fewer computer lab than Twin Falls — that room will house video production equipment instead — and more windows for more natural daylight will help differentiate the new school from its prototype.
The total cost of the project is $49 million, Chaput said.
Chaput and other Hutteball & Oremus execs spent two days each at the existing Snoqualmie Middle School and at Twin Falls to hear from staff members about what worked and what didn’t at the schools.
That’s how the execs learned of the need for an additional storage area in the kitchen and a larger auxiliary gym. The new school will have both, architect Scott Williams said.
The “overwhelming response,” Chaput said, is that Twin Falls is a great building. Another reason to go with Twin Falls as prototype, Chaput said, is time.
A building must be ready by September 2013. By choosing Twin Falls, the firm saves time by not having to develop all new designs.
The school will be built, pending the passing of a bond next year, on a 40-acre site at Snoqualmie Ridge Two, between Carmichael and McCullough streets. The construction will include a track, a football field and a soccer field.
Carmichael Park will border some of the fields. That way, the community can use them if they want to, Williams said.
The board voted unanimously in favor of continuing the design work, although some members had concerns.
“Let’s really take into consideration what our long-range plans are,” said school board member Scott Hodgins, who also suggested moving the school to where the fields would be and vice versa, to ease traffic.
Clint Marsh, the district’s construction program manager, assured Hodgins that the school will be built big enough.
The next step, Chaput said, is to have the city of Snoqualmie approve the design.
The board will hear a recommendation about the bond during its Oct. 7 meeting.
Sebastian Moraga, 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.
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