Sullivan Heights Secondary School Addition

The Sullivan Heights Secondary School project is a 700-student addition to the existing 1,000-students school. The new building will help relieve enrollment pressures in the existing facility, as well as align with 21st century learning objectives by creating a fluid, interconnected, creative, and collaborative project-based environment.

The addition plan is organized around five learning communities located on three levels, each sharing a common project space to encourage collaboration and flexible, personalized learning to support current curriculum objectives. The learning communities are supported by additional educational components including:

• breakout spaces
• education preparation areas
• lifestyle labs
• a science super lab
• large multi-purpose spaces, which can be used by the community after hours
• a group of maker, industrial education, and computer labs organized to maximize collaboration and innovation

The site presented several unique constraints, such as an existing creek that required environmental protection, dramatic elevation changes, an existing sports field, maintaining existing parking, and existing school exiting.

These conditions influenced the character and technical design decisions for the new addition. They led to the design of a four-storey, compact layout that minimized the amount of corridor and circulation space, allowing for the main objective of interconnected and fluid environment to be achieved.