On Deadline

McCarthy races to finish next phase of Carlsbad High School renovation

By Greg Aragon

The $86-million renovation of Carlsbad High School has moved into its stadium phase, with McCarthy Building Cos. of San Diego leading construction and racing to beat a summer deadline.

Perkins + Will designed the next phase of the renovation/expansion project -- 11 new one- and two-story education buildings (above and below).

“We are installing a 10-ft-deep, 13,000-sq-ft storm water detention treatment facility underneath the girls softball field, which has to be completed with new with synthetic surface; and a 10,000-sq-ft building housing locker rooms, restrooms and concessions.

Also this summer crews will begin demolishing the kitchen and five classroom buildings to prepare for new construction. Field says this phase includes the installation of two 3,000-amp, 480v utilities.

“We are basically going right through the middle of the school and ripping the guts out and re-feeding the entire campus,” he says.

When all construction is done in fall 2011, the school will not only have a new stadium but also 11 new one- and two story education buildings, which will total 99,000 sq ft of classroom, performing arts, vocational education and food-service space.

“The [school] is designed around four small learning communities,” says Wendell Vaughn, project manager for architect Perkins+Will of San Diego. He says the campus will have “flexible and project based collaborative learning spaces for the students, as opposed to a traditional comprehensive high school plan.”

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 Vaughn says that, for example, classrooms and lab spaces are grouped together so that students work can in smaller groups rather than the large packs commonly seen at big high schools.

The Carlsbad High School Project Team

Owner: Carlsbad Unifi ed School District Architect: Perkins+Will, San Diego
Structural engineer: John A. Martin & Associates, Los Angeles
Civil Engineer: Cornerstone Engineering, Inc., Oceanside
Electrical engineer: Johnson Consulting Engineers, Inc., Poway
Mechanical engineer: Donn C. Gilmore &Associates, Ontario
Landscape architect: Lightfoot PlanningGroup, Carlsbad