Architect Reid Anderson unveiled the nearly finished plans for the second phase of the Sweet Home High School construction project scheduled to begin next summer.
The project will include the demolition of most of the main high school building. Classrooms in the south hall will remain in addition to the east wing and the pool.
Plans for the new high school roughly parallel the building as it exists, with upgrades in the east wing and the classrooms, which are poorly ventilated, in the south hallway.
In the new building, the students’ main entrance will be on the west end of the building. The public entrance will be on Long Street.
Food service will be in the northwest corner of the building with the cafeteria and a commons area the size of several classrooms. The student store will be located in the commons area.
The existing gym will become a new library. Classrooms along the east side of the library will be connected to the library and used for computers and other technical classes.
The Long Street entrance will feature an arch over the entrance that carries into the building. Straight ahead will be the entrance to the library. To the right will be administration. To the left will be counseling. Further to the left will be Linn-Benton Community College’s Sweet Home Center. The LBCC center will extend into the existing breezeway and courtyard between the main part of the high school and the auditorium.
The main parking area will be to the west of the building and the new gym. Parking will be available on the Long Street side as well, and the district plans to retain the parking in the old tennis courts on the north side of Long Street.
Right now the building “rambles” through different styles as a result of its being constructed a piece at a time over the years, Anderson told the School Board during his presentation last week. The new building will feature a cohesive look.
The LBCC center and food services area will frame the central part of the building looking at it from Long Street. The main part of the high school will be set back from Long Street, further than the LBCC center and the food services area; but it will dominate the view from Long Street.
The arches included in the structure will serve higher ventilation standards and tie the new building aesthetically to the new gym, which is under construction south of the activity gym.
The project will include a number of low-sloped roofs, but it will provide more sloped roofing than exists now.
The project will use a masonry exterior with more brickwork than the gym will have.
This phase of the high school project is projected to cost in the neighborhood of $7 million and is part of an $18 million bond approved by voters last year.