Northern High School – Feasibility Study & New Construction

Northern High School students began occupying classrooms in the replacement building in January 2019 with the third and final phase of construction—which includes stadium upgrades to and the installation of stadium lighting—scheduled for completion in 2020. Situated next to the original c. 1970 school, the new 255,500 sf building accommodates 1,440 students and was designed to achieve LEED Silver certification. The environmentally friendly design features include a bio-retention system for stormwater, water harvesting for irrigation, natural lighting, outdoor environmental study areas and a reflective roof. Gipe Associates provided the mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering design for the replacement school which featured a geothermal system.  The packaged geothermal water cooled dedicated outdoor air system units was coupled with a geothermal water source heat pump system using water to air geothermal heat pumps to serve all classroom areas. Air-cooled variable refrigerant volume (VRV) systems coupled with DOAS are utilized for the office/administration area, guidance area, and media center.  The geothermal system includes 440 boreholes at 450 feet deep located under the baseball fields and geothermal heat pump closets located in the hallways of the building. The system circulates water within the underground piping system which heats or cools the facility, depending on what the individual heat pumps need, year round. Other project highlights include electrical systems designed to exceed ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2010, and a state-of-the-art addressable fire alarm system with voice evacuation.   $69.6M / 255,500sf

Project Type: K-12,