Learning an Anthem
Massive School Being Built in New Community
K. Robert Wendel

Not long ago, there wasn't much need for a new school in Anthem, a residential development 30- mi. north of downtown Phoenix.

But the success of the Del Webb development, which changed from an area of animals and cactus to a busy desert community with a population of nearly 15,000, has changed all that.

Among the most prominent projects in Anthem is the construction of a new high school being built under a construction-manager-at-risk contract by the Phoenix office of W.E. O'Neil Construction for the Deer Valley Unified School District No. 97.

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Tom O'Neil, a principal with the Phoenix office of DLR Group, the architect on the project, said the construction manager at-risk delivery method will allow designers and contractors to deliver a quality job on time and under budget. The school should be completed and open for students in time for the fall 2004 semester.

"Working with the general contractor and subs gave us a better-quality project because we put the money where you can see it," DLR's Tom O'Neil said. "A good example is the mass grading plan. "We had the subcontractor look at the schematic design and they worked with us in design to create a balanced site, so there was limited money invested in importing or exporting material."

Work on the $35 -million project started in April, with site work on an extremely difficult piece of land. Crews from Phoenix-based Ace Asphalt had to relocate a wash running through the middle of the site, while crews from Chandler, Ariz.-based Mechanical Maintenance ran more than 2,700 lin.ft. of chilled water piping, some with depths up to 13 -ft.

"It was some hard rock and some very hard digging," said Sherman Anderson, a project manager with Mechanical Maintenance. "The depth of the pipe was out of the ordinary because we usually don't go that deep. We have a lot of utilities crossing over us."

The 300,000-sq.-ft. school complex will have two, two-story academic buildings, an auditorium building, an administration building, a competition gym and practice gym and a performing arts center. The project also includes a new football and soccer field, tennis courts and four baseball diamonds, as well as a shared media center that Maricopa County will operate as a public library.

The school is designed for about 2,000 students. "There's a trend in high school design for smaller communities," DLR's O'Neil said. "The benefits are a smaller community where you get more participation."

The buildings wrap around a central student plaza, creating space for outdoor dining and studying, while also creating a secure campus. Massing on the front of the building will be broken up with "wavy" panels. The building's back faces Interstate 17.

"I think the student plaza is going to be a neat space," said Jeff Berry, site superintendent for project manager Abacus Project Management Inc. of Phoenix. "The plaza is shaped like a reverse question mark, and there will concentric circles of grass throughout the plaza. It's going to be a unique setting."

The new high school is very similar to an earlier design for the Sandra Day O'Conner High School in Phoenix.

It sits on a slab-on-grade foundation, utilizing load bearing masonry walls and steel trusses for the roof systems.

"But some of the aesthetics are different," said Don Hamlin, a project manager for W.E. O'Neil "There are a lot of different finishes, and we believe this could be a template for future schools."