Gymnasium and Fine Arts Renovation
Carroll, Iowa

Project Manager: Sam Harding

Superintendent: Judd Harmer

Architectural Firm: OPN Architects, Inc.

Contract Amount: $1,561,370.00

Completion Date: February 1999

Project Description:

The project consisted of an extensive renovation of the existing gymnasium and fine arts areas as well as three small additions.  One addition houses the new wood shop area, thus allowing the former wood shop to be renovated into a new vocal music room complete with permanent risers.  The other two additions were constructed to create new entry ways into the gymnasium with one serving as small secondary entrance and storage area, while the other became the new main entrance for both the gymnasium and the school itself.  Portions of the century old St. Angela’s wing were renovated to provide additional classroom and rehearsal space and a new instrumental music room.  A major window replacement project in this wing was also completed on the multi-story structure.

The heart of the project, however, was the gymnasium renovation.  The existing gym floor ran north/south with bleachers on the west and a stage area on the east.  The bleachers were removed including a series of rooms under the permanent bleachers that housed the music department.  On the other side of the gym, a series of scaffolding had to be placed to support the existing roof structure in order to allow for removal of the load-bearing wall between the gymnasium and the stage.  A new truss was installed in place of the former load-bearing wall to support the existing roof as well as the new roof over the former stage area.  Demolition of the stage area and its roof area allowed the walls to be extended to the full height of the gymnasium.  This new area allowed for construction of a locker room facility at the gymnasium level with a balcony above on a new precast spandeck structure.  A new wood floor system was installed running east/west and new folding wood bleachers were installed on the north and south as well as in the balcony, tripling the former seating capacity to nearly 1500.

Unusual or Unique Features:

Removal of the existing 36’0” high, 100’0” wide load bearing 12” concrete block wall and roof area over the former stage was extremely complicated.  The existing gym roof had to be supported not only against collapse but also against uplift from heavy winds for the period of time that it would be open to the elements while the new load bearing wall and truss structure was put in place.  Further complicating the process was the fact that the existing floor structure of the former stage area, an area over the former locker rooms, was too weak to allow for dropping large pieces of debris from the demolition thus requiring the entire load bearing wall to be taken down by hand in very small pieces.  Sequencing of this work was difficult because access to the site was extremely limited.  The main power transformer for the entire facility as well as adjacent elementary and middle schools was located on a pole structure right next to the former stage area.  With this high voltage area in immediate proximity, crane access required very delicate maneuvering, which was the main factor that drove the sequence of work.  Despite all of these challenges, all work on the gym was completed between the end of the basketball season in the spring of 1998 and the start of basketball season in the fall of 1998.

Another part of the renovation included the addition of a long run of custom fabricated display cases for trophies in the corridor adjacent to the gymnasium.  These cases were painstakingly detailed to match an existing display case that was to remain.  This attention to detail was evidenced throughout the project, but is probably most vividly displayed in the colors and details that immediately strike you as you enter the new gym.