"Lake Orion High School", Michigan

Important characteristics: user variation programming services to the community, high architectural quality.

Designer: Arch. URS Greiner Wodward Clyde

• Grade level: 9 - 12 years
• Year of construction: 1997
• Students: 1600/2000
• Grounds area: 80 acres Building area: 34,753 M2
• Area per student: 21.7 M2
• Construction cost: 88 billion lira
• Cost per student: 55 million lira
• Cost per M2: 2.5 million lira

The building functions like a community center. In fact, all the principle communal areas like the pool, 900-seat auditorium and the 3,400-seat field house have easy access near the parking lots. The 1600-student building is divided in four independent areas for 400 students; all four have access to the communal areas. The administration offices, designed as a service center for students, is centrally housed in the traditional location of the library. The library, instead, was designed as a decentralized reading hall where the resources are accessible to every classroom with a computer. The classrooms and laboratories are near the multimedia center in order to create integration between the various aspects of knowledge. Each 400 student didactic unit includes a computer room, research area, teachers room and students' lockers. There are two lecture theaters that hold 80 students that can be joined for even larger groups. The cafeteria is centrally located and has a conical skylight that floods the room with natural light. The steep site chosen for the building has a beautiful view and helps to separate access between the students and the public. The external design has a high tech aspect without historic references. The articulated shape of the building and the brick facade focus attention even from a distance..