By JOHN
THOMPSON
jthompson@TheCitizenNews.com
Next week,
Fulton County school officials break ground on one of the biggest projects
they have ever undertaken a $55 million, state-of-the-art high school.
Meanwhile,
in South Fulton County, works is continuing on the $14 million Dodson
Road Elementary school site. School officials are continuing to open
bids on the project and expect it to open in the fall of 2002.
Fulton County
School System parents, community leaders and administrators Wednesday
will celebrate the construction of a new community high school in north
Fulton.
The groundbreaking
ceremony at 10625 Parsons Road in unincorporated Alpharetta marks the
early stages of the county's first school constructed using a design-build
process.
Normally,
construction does not begin on a project until all segments of the site
and building plans are final and approved. But with a design-build process,
construction begins on completed segments of the project plans, while
architects refine and complete plans for other parts of the project.
System leaders
elected to use the design-build format to shave a year off the normal
three-year cycle used in high school construction. The $55 million high
school, which reduces enrollment at Chattahoochee and Milton high schools,
is scheduled to open in the fall of 2002.
Designed
by dwb architects inc., the new school is a modified version of Fulton's
high school prototype. The 73-acre site includes the 271,000-sq. ft.
main building with a 12,000-sq. ft. secured courtyard, 600-seat auditorium,
and 2,000-seat gymnasium with fold-up goals and court-level running
track; 3,500-seat stadium with bleachers, concession stands and maintenance
building; athletic playing fields and tennis courts; and about 700 on-site
parking spaces.
Like all
Fulton schools constructed in recent years, the high school maximizes
use of natural light, bringing the out-of-doors inside school boundaries.
There are 60 standard and 36 laboratory classrooms with computer ports
for five students and one teacher in each classroom, a fully equipped
kitchen with a modern "food court" design and five serving
lines, media center with courtyard reading areas, and music spaces for
pre- and post-event functions.
