Parkrose Middle School Project Profile
The new school replaces an aging middle school that had reached capacity. Dull Olson Weekes – IBI Group Architects, Inc. were asked to create a new middle school on the same site as the old school, which was demolished. The new middle school is a beautiful example of an all masonry cavity wall system with 76,000 blended-color ground-face CMU exposed on the interior walls—140,000 block total—and 350,000 units of blended tan brick for the exterior.
Dan Hess, AIA, was the project architect and serves as a link between the architect group and the community it serves.
“The goal was to create a school that was prepared to provide twenty-first century learning for a growing community. We wanted to create a sustainable school that is a safe place for kids and an environment that reflected a sense of professionalism—almost like a community college”
The district also wanted to relate the new middle school to the existing high school across the street that Dull Olson Weekes designed back in the 90s.
“We wanted the two schools to feel complimentary because kids go back and forth between the high school and the middle school.”
To achieve the aesthetic needed for the new school, Hess used blended tan brick for the exterior veneer and grey metal panels that help the new middle school
relate visually to the nearby high school. For the interior walls, Hess chose ground-face concrete masonry for its durability as a long-term interior finish that will hold up for generations of students. Another benefit—exposed block means no steel studs or sheetrock are needed.
View the entire project here: