VALDOSTA —
Three architectural firms — IPG, Altman and Barrett, and Ellis, Rickett & Associates — presented prospective plans for the new Valdosta High School at a called Valdosta Board of Education meeting Monday night at the Teaching and Learning Training Center on Azalea Drive.
While each firm came with the common goal of ultimately being selected to construct the future legacy of the Valdosta Wildcats, every presentation proceeded to take on a different focus, form and finished product.
IPG was the first to present and set the bar high with a vividly innovative plan led by Rob Evans.
“When we heard of this job, we immediately looked at what we could do and what we could do with our friends,” said Evans.
According to Evans, the new VHS is the most important project in the community and IPG has the experience to take the school and its legacy to the next level.
“We’ve been doing schools since the ‘60s in our firm,” said Evans.
IPG has been involved in the construction of several community and local area projects including Valdosta Middle School, Moulton Branch Elementary School, J.L. Newbern Middle School, Berrien High School and even Valdosta State University.
With the assistance of a Chicago, Ill., based architectural firm, Perkins + Will — that specializes in a variety of things including higher and K-12 education — IPG presented a progressively modern design that embraces community involvement, green design and sustainability.
While presenting statistics such as the fact that natural lights improve test scores by 20 to 26 percent, IPG and Perkins + Will took the board on a journey of the modern day student that thrives in an environment conducive to all the bells and whistles that education and architecture have to offer.
The conceptual schedule that included six weeks for programming, 8 weeks for schematics, 12 weeks for design development, 24 weeks for construction development at 22 months for estimated construction.
Additionally, the schedule included a six to eight week bid and award process and five weeks for move-in.
“We want to be your architect, period,” said Evans as he ended his presentation.
While IPG offered a modern twist on the Wildcat tradition, Ellis, Rickett and Associates stuck to the roots.
With a team that includes four VHS graduates, former Wildcat football players and architects with Valdosta ties, Ellis, Rickett and Associates presented a new Valdosta High School that stayed true to tradition and the importance of Wildcat athletics.
“Four of the architects here who will be working on this project are Valdosta High School graduates,” said Ken Rickett.
Ellis, Rickett and Associates presented three possible schemes: The keystone scheme, the school house theme and the ring scheme, all which offered a focus on security, student travel circulation and an interactive design that promises to take the pulse of the community before jumping in feet first.
“We spend the bulk of our time in the concept development phase,” said Rickett.
According to Rickett, designing the new VHS is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
“We want the opportunity to design the new high school sincerely,” said Rickett. “We have several Valdosta High School graduates sitting here who are just aching to do it.”
Ellis, Rickett and Associates presented a timeline of one week to prepare a workshop, one week to conduct a workshop, eight weeks for design phase, 12 weeks for design development phase.
While not diving too hard into timeline, the firm did provide a three-dimensional view of their concepts — one which included the Wildcats fight song — which strongly represented their desire and conceptualized the possibilities for the board.
The last to present was Altman and Barrett who are currently working on the new Pinevale Elementary School for the Valdosta City School system.
“Our methodology for design remains the same,” said Walter Altman.
What Altman and Barrett’s presentation lacked in bells and whistles was made up for in a concise and tangible vision for the new VHS.
The firm’s vision was grand, including every aspect from a football field to an aquatics area, and would take three years from start to finish in its entirety. While everything presented wouldn’t be tackled at once or even in the near future, Altman did something no other firm did in showing the flexibility of what he called a 75 year school.
According to Altman, while some of the things may not be wanted now, they may be wanted later and the firm’s plan accommodates everything.
Something else Altman and Barrett focused on that neither firm strongly emphasized was the importance of local and minority involvement.
In the Pinevale project, the firm made sure 67 percent of the money stayed local.
“We’ve got to do better than that,” said Altman.
The firm surveyed surrounding cities to see how they accommodated local work and minority involvement and they found Savannah was a great example.
Through that study, Altman and Barrett prepared a plan that promotes new, local business relationships and reduce the barriers for entries of newer, smaller businesses. They plan to hold meet and greets and to explain the process to create a equal playing ground.
“To provide an open door to compete,” said Altman.
They plan to “unbundle” large package products and break them into small projects so smaller, local businesses will have the opportunity to bid in.
“You can take that product and break it down into smaller packages,” said Altman.
Altman and Barrett plan to provide a clear understanding of the contract process so those businesses who are not usually afforded the opportunity will be able to have a chance.
“That’s how we’re going to get local involvement,” said Altman.
After three hours of presentations, the board was left with a lot of options and tough choices to consider before voting on the architect's selection at the next school board meeting.
In other business, the board unanimously voted to select the Georgia School Board Association (GSBA) as their superintendent search firm.
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