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Cutting Costs
Queens School Tests New SCA Design
Guidelines
by Dave Platter
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After
implementing new design standards instituted by the
New York City School Construction Authority, construction
costs were cut by 30 percent from a typical $450 per
sq. ft. to $315 per sq. ft.
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The 86,395-sq.-ft. addition to the Queens Vocational &
Technical High School in Long Island City is the first project
to begin construction under the new design standards of the
School Construction Authority, the city agency that oversees
public school construction New York.
"The effort to revise the standards started back in
summer 2002, and our new standards were in place in about
a year," said Timothy F. Ng, director of Design Studio
2 in the SCA's Architecture and Engineering Department.
As a result of the new design program, the price per square
foot of the addition was slashed by 30 percent, from the typical
$450 per sq. ft. to $315 per sq. ft. Sitework and work in
the existing four-story, 1929 brick and limestone building
brought total project costs up to $30.1 million, Ng said.
The project is expected to be completed July 2005.
"The idea was to save money without reducing the quality
of the product," said Bernard Zipprick, managing partner
at Richard Dattner & Partners Architects, PC., the firm
that designed the addition.
Charlie Avolio, deputy operations manager for the general
contractor, Turner Construction Co., said the new standards
mainly impacted changes in specifications for structural components,
exterior walls and mechanical and electrical systems.
The standards permitted the installation of a rooftop, all-air
heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system for the first
time in a New York public school. That meant an end to the
traditional system consisting of a boiler plant in the basement
and a chiller plant and fan units on the rooftop.
As a result, "We've minimized the amount of piping and
mechanical equipment going into the building," Avolio
said. "The system is greatly reduced in complexity and
costs.
"There is also extensive use of drywall interior construction,
which speeds the construction process and speeds the installation
of mechanical, electrical and plumbing conduits."
The development of abuse- and impact-resistant sheetrock
means that drywall is now able to replace masonry interior
walls. The new specifications call for a layer of this material,
an inner layer of lower-grade sheetrock, as well as insulation
and metal studs.
The new wing will transform a building that is now "L"
shaped into one that is "U" shaped, and it will
finally give the Depression-era facility all the elements
of a modern high school.
"It's an addition to a school that has probably needed
one since the day it was built," said Bob Drake, the
site representative for Richard Dattner & Partners.
The building was not built to be a high school, said Mary
Leas, a project support manager with the SCA. It was intended
to serve as a continuing education center where adults attending
night and evening classes could learn trade professions, she
added.
As a result of its origins, the high school has never had
a cafeteria or gymnasium. "They have to have lunches
trucked in," Leas said. "The students sit in the
auditorium and eat their lunches in their lap."
Despite the obstacles, 71.5 percent of the students at Queens
Vocational & Technical High School report that they plan
to go on to college after graduation, according to a spokesperson
for the Department of Education.
In addition to a cafeteria, kitchen and gymnasium, the new
structure will include a library, classrooms that can seat
600 students and specialty shops dedicated to vocational training.
It will sit on its own foundations next to the existing building,
with the corridors of the existing school continuing through
into the new structure on each of the four aboveground floors.
On the exterior, the expansion's façade will complement
the older building. "It's designed to be a contemporary
expression of the original building, with the intent to provide
a sophisticated up-to-date look," architect Zipprick
said.
Zipprick's team selected an elongated Norman brick that is
consistent with the existing building. The team also chose
cast stone to create simplified versions of the decorative
terra cotta and limestone horizontal bands, window sills and
architectural medallions on the original structure.
"The addition will feel like an extension of the original,"
Zipprick said.
The construction team, which has to demolish exterior walls
and interior spaces such as classrooms in the old building
to connect the newer structure, has had to work on an occupied,
operational school with more than 1,000 students and staff.
"At the beginning of the project, I think it was the
biggest challenge we faced," Avolio said. "We have
to understand we're in their house and we need to respect
that."
To smooth relations, the contractor has arranged a program
with the school's leadership to give students a chance to
learn about construction trades onsite.
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