DRA plans for indirect lighting, other

By Jonathan Cook
Turley Publications Reporter

STURBRIDGE - Things are “getting more real,” Architect Carl Franceschi of Drummand, Rosane, Anderson (DRA) told the Burgess School Building Committee last week. Although, “we’re not quite picking colors yet.”
For starters, Franceschi took feedback from school nurse Lisa Meunier. As a result, he adjusted the nurse’s office to her specifications, including removal of a storage closet to create more open space. The nurse’s office is to be located across the hall from the main office, which sits in the central entranceway between the existing central building and the new building to be added over the ball field.
Franceschi has also looked more closely at a hallway that will go between the existing gym and the cafeteria to the central entranceway.
For one, he said there will be glass bricks installed along one wall to give a sense of space in the hall and light in the gym.
The glass is not see-through, but does allow light to come through. “It helps relieve the narrowness of the corridor,” he said, but does not allow children to distract children on the other side.
Also, planned computer stations and other resource rooms around the media center will include entrances from the hall and from inside the library.
The library space will also have computer stations with the library. The shelves will be of similar size, but there will be more of them for a larger book capacity.
For the ceiling, Franceschi proposes “clouds,” in order to break up the monolithic hanging ceiling. He said the main ceiling will be as high as possible, but with finished ceiling tiles hanging down over workstations in order to “get the benefit of the volume of the space,” he said. Also, the lighting system will include curved panels hanging below light fixtures and skylights in order to diffuse the natural light without blocking it.
He suggested alternating the curves between hills and valleys to break up the space and “make it fun.”
The practicality of the lighting system is that it can reflect light or diffuse it as needed, he added.

Main entrance

“It’s still basically two-story high volume,” Franceschi said.
He pointed out that light comes in from all four directions. “It’s in the middle. It’s also going to be the area with the most color in the building. It’s going to attract attention that way and sort of announce itself,” he explained.
He said that locally harvested wood decking could be used for the ceiling in the lobby as part of an effort to include “green school” principals and add warmth to the space.
On the green school note, Franceschi also said alternative fuels are being investigated.
Landscape
Landscape architect Peter Wells of Berkshire Design Group reported to the committee that he’d met with Tree Warden Tom Chamberland. Wells indicated that Chamberland shared his knowledge of particular trees and helped decide which are not healthy enough to save and which would be worth storing behind the DPW building until the critical phase of construction is complete.
About 24 trees will be saved while about 64 will be destroyed.

Water system

Wells also met with Shane Moody of Veolia Water, the town’s public water operator. Moore said the pair of water lines coming into the school do not form the preferred loop system.
With the dead end system “you could get poor water quality,” said Wells. He explained that if the system is not used at consistent levels, water can stagnate and water quality could suffer.
However, a loop system costs more. Wells said to run a line to Cedar Street, 1,200 linear feet to complete a loop will cost $48,000 to $60,000.

Rumors

Committee member Larry Morrison said that rumors are in the wind that need to be quelled with a program of public information.
Particularly, he said some faculty are concerned with what might be lost in terms of storage and furniture as well as the possibility that the new building will be better than the rebuilt old building.
Chairman Angela Cheng-Cimini pointed out that the information on the town’s Web site, listed under the school building committee tab, isn’t doing the trick.
A Facebook page was tossed around, but was seen as very high maintenance. In the end, it was decided that Associate Superintendent Ted Friend would explore having the high school video class develop a report for public access television.
Also, Principal Dan Carlson said that another staff presentation would also help clarify possible concerns.
Committee member Bill Emrich said that some teachers are concerned that all the furniture will be replaced instead of keeping what can still be used. However, Emrich explained, the furniture no longer meets code requirements and according to the state, must be upgraded.