Boora Architects

This new educational campus is a ground-up replacement of Vernonia’s K-12 facilities after a devastating flood in 2007 severely damaged or destroyed all of the small town’s schools.

The new building also functions as a community hub and civic center for activities and meetings with over 50,000 square feet available for community use.

In the summer of 2012, Boora closed our office for a day of volunteering at the nearly completed school – read more about that effort here.

Located on higher ground, the school is divided into four pods: lower elementary, upper elementary, middle school and high school. Thirty-two classrooms are augmented by two gyms, a music/choir room, drama space, a media center and a commons/cafeteria. Parking, natural wetlands and sports fields surround the school.

Since the community has always had a strong connection to the natural environment, a high priority was placed on sustainable design. Directed to achieve LEED Platinum certification, the team incorporated daylight; radiant in-floor heating and cooling; bio-mass boilers; photo-voltaics; rainwater collection; local materials and labor; and wetland education features.

On track to be one of the first consolidated LEED Platinum school buildings in the country, Vernonia K-12 faculty and staff will monitor building energy use as part of a new curriculum focused on natural resources.

To inform the design with as much information about the particular needs and aspirations of Vernonia, Boora held multiple discovery sessions, design charettes and town hall meetings with community members and students. These meetings also kept the community of Vernonia apprised of progress and broadened the sense of ownership of the new school.