THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 27, 1996 TAG: 9603270415
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: POPLAR BRANCH LENGTH: Long : 112 lines
When Virginia Beach architect C. Michael Ross set out to design an addition to Dr. W.T. Griggs Elementary School, he was asked to make it in the image of the original brick, Greek Revival structure.
The Poplar Branch school, built in the 1940s with Works Progress Administration funds, held a special place for several generations of Currituck residents. People didn't want the architectural integrity compromised in the desperately needed expansion.
The $3 million project honors that request. The most obvious example: The original entrance now serves as the backdrop of a huge common area and atrium-like media center.
``Anyone who walks in and sees it is very impressed with that idea of having left the old building intact,'' said Fannie Newbern, who has been principal of the school for more than 15 years.
Also impressed was the National School Boards Association in Arlington, Va., which recently named it among the best school construction projects in the country.
Griggs is among almost 100 elementary, middle andhigh schools nationwide honored in the annual ``Learning By Design: A School Leader's Guide to Architectural Services'' publication distributed this month.
The purpose of ``Learning By Design'' is to recognize the best school construction projects in the business, which is headed this year by an $11.73 million new middle school in Vancouver, Wash., which won the Grand Prize.
``Our goal is to gather together the most innovative and effective examples of school design, construction and renovation,'' an introduction in the resource guide explained.
Griggs Elementary is the only entry from North Carolina to be included in this year's list which is selected by a panel of architects and facility planners from across the country.
Two projects from the northern Virginia area represent the Old Dominion State.
The Griggs project was submitted by HBA Architecture & Interior Design of Virginia Beach. The same company designed the new Currituck County High School that is still under construction.
Ross also serves as the chief architect on the upcoming Central Elementary School renovations and will be responsible for two new, identical elementary schools planned for opposite ends of this fast-growing county.
``I'm very proud to have it in there. I think it's a very good design,'' said Skip Sanders, the school system's director of facilities and planning.
``The design was sensitive to what was already existing. Griggs is an oddly shaped building, and that Greek Revival front and side of the building were difficult to design something modern around,'' he added.
One unique feature of the new building is the tile patterns on the floor of the entranceway and common areas. Letters, numbers and even punctuation marks bring the space down to a child's level.
A picture of the Griggs flooring - with a caption identifying the school and its location - is featured in tile company American Olean's 1996 commercial products catalog.
``They liked the artistic ability that is shown and decided to put it in their publication,'' said Sanders, who added that the booklet is distributed to thousands of customers.
Prior to the Griggs renovations in 1993 almost half of the school's population was being taught in 15 mobile classrooms. The renovtions became a political issue in 1994 when cost overruns were not made public until after a school construction bond referendum passed.
Among the 27 elementary schools singled out in the publication, Griggs' $4,615 cost per student was less than all the others.
Its $89 cost per square foot, however, is higher than 18 others in the same category.
``Certainly having classrooms to state specifications is wonderful,'' said Newbern, who graduated from Griggs and taught there for 15 years before becoming principal.
This month's recognition isn't the only national exposure the Currituck County School system has received lately.
The National School Public Relations Association devoted an article in its monthly newsletter, ``Network,'' to the P.A.S.S. program.
A winner of the 1995 Golden Achievement Contest, the Public Awareness of the School System provides community school tours.
Guests have an opportunity to talk to teachers, students and administrators and see for themselves how their tax dollars are being spent on public education.
``I think it's a real honor that our school district is recognized in the newsletter,'' said Diane Knox, Currituck schools' public information director.
``To be a small, rural school district and be recognized nationwide is pretty good,'' she said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by DREW C. WILSON, The Virginian-Pilot
In the elementary's library, The facade of the old school was
integrated into the media center of the new one. The school was
named one of the best-designed school additions in a trade
publication.
Chart
GRIGGS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Grade Span: Pre-K through 5
Building Capacity: 650 students
Next Year's Projected Enrollment: 476
Current Building Area: 69,772 square feet
Before addition/renovation: 36,022 square feet
Total project costs: $3 million
Cost per square foot: $89
Space per student: 107 square feet
Cost per student: $4,615
Completion Date: Sept. 1993
Source: Learning by Design, March 1996
by CNB