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To accommodate its burgeoning student population of 22,000, Hemet Unified School District is upgrading its 23 schools and constructing Tahquitz High School, Rancho Viejo Middle School and two new elementary schools.
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Ken Breuer, senior associate from Trittipo & Associates Architects of San Marcos, designed the single-story buildings with a modern look. Classrooms in the earth-toned structures are connected by outdoor walkways. Pyramid-style skylights in the teal-colored steel roofs will increase natural lighting. (rendering courtesy of Trittipo & Associates).
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Funding for the schools is coming from a $60-million obligation bond (with matching state funds) that voters approved in 2002.
Finding a large enough piece of property was difficult, said Richard Beck, assistant superintendent of business services.
"We bought our second choice (site) for $7 million," Beck added. "A housing developer purchased our first choice."
The Riverside County district has three other high schools--Hemet, West Valley and Hamilton--with a combined enrollment of nearly 6,000 students.
Dan Lovingier, the district's new director of facilities, will be coordinating the construction on the campuses. His predecessor, Sandra Packham, retired in the summer.
The district hired Douglas E. Barnhart Inc. of San Diego as its construction manager for the $58-million Tahquitz High School, which will encompass 65 acres on an 83-acre site at Commonwealth and Cawston avenues.
Barnhart is overseeing the construction of the 237,000-sq.-ft. facility situated on a former dairy turned watermelon farm.
"So far the project's proceeding smoothly," said Richard Bruce, a Barnhart vice president.
The first phase, completed last year, involved demolishing dilapidated farm buildings, removing septic tanks and grading the site.
Additionally, Barnhart coordinated the installation of all underground utilities.
"It's all basic construction," said Barnhart's project superintendent Michael Ross. "But sometimes the happy cow smell from the adjacent dairy gets a bit pungent."
The dairy operation will continue until its owner eventually decides to sell, Lovingier said.
Framing for the 11-structure facility began in September. The school is scheduled to be finished in time for 1,200 freshmen and sophomores to attend classes in 2007.
Over the following three years, the students will grow into the junior and senior classes and new freshmen will be added. Eventually the school's student population will be 2,400.
The academic buildings will be wood-framed, said Ken Breuer, senior associate from Trittipo & Associates Architects of San Marcos, which designed the project.
Only the gymnasium and the theater's fly loft have structural steel and concrete masonry, he added.
Breuer designed the single-story buildings with a modern look. Classrooms in the earth-toned structures are connected by outdoor walkways.
Breuer included pyramid-style skylights in the teal-colored steel roofs to increase the natural lighting. Additionally, 940 parking spaces were spread around the campus and stadium.
The 20,373-sq.-ft. administration and library section is centrally located.
Radiating out from the central section are a 40-ft.-tall performing arts center; 18,623-sq.-ft. technical arts building; 26,104-sq.-ft. science building; and three other academic classroom structures (27,600 sq. ft., 25,361 sq. ft., 25,361 sq. ft., respectively).
The latter two academic buildings are not being constructed in this phase, said Gene Smith, Barnhart's project manager.
The 23,789-sq.-ft. performing arts center off Commonwealth Avenue has a curved colonnade entrance and includes a full stage and orchestra pit. It will seat 500 and is surrounded by rooms for instrumental and vocal classes, plus drama.
A 7,467-sq.-ft. cafeteria with a 3,924-sq.-ft. lunch shelter and two bathroom buildings that equal 2,100 sq. ft. sit between the gymnasium and administration/library.
A 32,266-sq.-ft. gymnasium sits west of the administration/library section and immediately north of a 50-meter swimming pool, which is flanked by two locker-room areas that equal 14,000 sq. ft.
At the west edge of the campus is a 4,000-seat stadium in a natural ravine within the Tres Cerritos foothills on the property. The stadium is on hold until the district acquires more funding.
The now-retired Packham said the rest of the hilly area was unusable because access to any structures built there must comply with the Americans with Disability Act.
"We knew we weren't going to use the hills when we bought the site," she added. "We've been talking with the local Soboba tribe to see if they want to use that portion (of the site) as a reserve."
Lovinger said "the ball's in the tribe's court."
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