1. Gila Ridge High School 2009 Monarch Award Yuma, Arizona High School
Design/Bid/Build
VCBO Architecture

2. The Yuma, Arizona weather allows for common areas to be moved outside
The Yuma, Arizona weather allows for common areas to be moved outside. The Mall is the social center of the school,
with the library at the heart (“SEARCH”).

3. Classrooms are designed to be flexible and can be re-configured to adapt to the curriculum. The windows allow
natural daylight from the classroom to enter the collaboration spaces and provide a more open, community feel.

4. Learning takes place both in and out of the classroom.
Collaboration spaces are essential to prepare students for College and for a lifetime of learning.

5. Student traffic areas were designed both indoors and outdoors
Student traffic areas were designed both indoors and outdoors. The North side of the buildings
provide shade during the hot Arizona days. This view shows the “Explore” academy.

6. The Dining Room overflows onto the outdoor Commons/Mall area
The Dining Room overflows onto the outdoor Commons/Mall area. Students dine outside for seven months of the school year.
The Media Center (“Search”) overlooks the Mall, provides valuable shade, and invites the students to SEARCH for knowledge and insight.
Note: Photo taken before shade structures were completed

7. The indoor Dining Room is designed as a flexible space that can be used as a lobby for student registration by opening up to the Bookstore. Families registering in August can enjoy a temperate space while waiting for ID cards and books.

8. The Media Center is an inviting area that makes full use of natural daylighting.
Inspiring quotations create curiosity among students.

9. Within the Academic Houses themselves, there is a number sequence, either binary code (which hides a fun message to students who decode it), the Fibonacci Sequence, Prime Numbers, or 200 feet of “Pi”.
Further, historical timelines create fun parallels, and grab student attention – topics of the timelines include the history of transportation, scientific discovery, communications, inventions, art and architecture, food technology, and of course, Yuma, Arizona.
Signage was a key learning element on this project: Glass at entrances to all buildings is etched with topic appropriate quotations. Buildings themselves are named with action verbs to indicate function.

10. The 1200-seat Auditorium was modeled digitally, to achieve outstanding acoustics; the space also features a state-of-the-art lighting system. The Auditorium is used by both the school and the Yuma community.

11. The Gila Ridge High School landscaping features hardy, attractive desert plants that contribute to the
District’s goals for sustainable buildings and require very little water.

12. Gila Ridge High School Site Plan north
This site is shared with Yuma City on the western side, and Arizona Western College shares the stadium with the High School. From the start of the project, one of the most important design factors was the orientation of the building with the long axes to the north or south (The easiest and most economical sustainable measure!)

13. Gila Ridge High School
Main Floor Plan

14. Gila Ridge High School
Upper Floor Plan

15. Gila Ridge High School Enlarged Academic House
Each Learning Academy enjoys a different color scheme, name, and theme, enhancing student identity and wayfinding, while piquing student interest. Houses may be organized by grade level or career path. Central teacher’s office space encourages collaboration and frees up classroom use.

16. Gila Ridge High School Enlarged Science Laboratory
The Science Lab was designed to allow ultimate flexibility: The gas and air are recessed, with a removable cover, and the loose tables can be configured in a variety of ways accommodating a full array of diverse experiments. Two lecture classrooms share each laboratory, which is centrally located in each Learning Academy.

17. Gila Ridge High School Enlarged Science Laboratory
Planning Process & Specific Challenges
The school provides an innovative and environmentally responsive design solution resulting from a lively collaboration of stakeholders. The District determined the need for the new building, interviewed architects, and then set up a group to begin defining the program for a completely new and student-centered facility. The programming and design committee included administrators, facilities/maintenance personnel, department heads and teachers from the existing 4 comprehensive high schools, parents, and most importantly, students. Small Learning Communities were requested from all stakeholders; even the science teachers were willing to separate labs to achieve this goal.
This design/programming committee created eight specific challenges
that the new building must accommodate. It would have to:
Support an integrated, project-based, technology-rich curriculum
Encourage collaboration & create community – Small Learning Communities are critical
Provide a sustainable environment
Enhance physical educational space
Pique student interest
Incorporate durability & maintainability
Be an integral community partner
Appeal to the aesthetics of the future occupants
The Solution
The solution is multi-faceted, like the challenges, which were answered as follows:
Support an integrated, project-based, technology-rich curriculum:
The school is comprised of 5 buildings, including two 2-story academic buildings. Within each of the academies, there is a science core, specifically designed to be appropriate for all science disciplines, a faculty office, where the instructors have space to work individually or together, and classrooms surrounding a highly visible collaboration space. This accommodates both grade-level-specific and multi-age interest-based academies, encouraging an integrated curriculum. Technology design includes ceiling-mounted projection and fully integrated sound reinforcement in all classrooms, as well as wifi availability throughout the campus. The rear portion of the Auditorium is designed to act as a small stadium seating style Lecture Hall with fully integrated projection systems.
Encourage collaboration & create community:
The Academic houses create small student/teacher communities, which all coincide at the heart of the campus, where the Media Center and the central quad are intentionally located. The student collaboration spaces in each learning academy include conference rooms where students can meet with acoustic privacy, as well as the larger spaces for bigger groups, all totally supervisable through large interior windows in each classroom.

18. Provide a sustainable environment:
Sustainable measures incorporated into the design of the project include the careful and conscious orientation of the building along the East West axis, (all classrooms have only south or north facing fenestration), the choice to use locally produced and low voc building materials, and selection of a chilled water mechanical system for cooling, rather than the package rooftop units commonly used in the area. Electrically, the building utilizes multi-level lighting options and occupancy sensors within the individual spaces to accommodate different classroom activities, as well as saving energy. Classroom daylighting was modeled, and sloped ceilings with a very high light reflectance were utilized to draw natural light deep into each classroom. The building envelope design, including the use of high performance glazing and the use of light-colored exterior materials also contribute to this exceptionally energy conscious facility.
Enhance physical educational space:
The building is designed to optimize natural daylighting; all learning spaces are daylit and oriented to increase year round environmental comfort, both inside and outside. The main circulation spine is located on the north side of the building, utilizing shade created from the shadow of the building itself. The building siting also creates a natural ventilation effect in all but the hottest months by capturing the prevailing winds at the same time highlighting the panoramic views offered to the East, North and West. Color selections are designed to appeal to the student community, recollecting the desert landscape.
Pique student interest:
Etched on the glass throughout the facility are inspiring quotes from eminent thinkers of many nationalities, and “welcome” in over 50 languages. Each collaboration space bears either the Fibonacci series, the prime numbers, the numbers of Pi, or a secret message expressed in binary code, as well as a themed timeline. Academic houses are named Explore and Discover, providing identities, color schemes, and way finding for the academies.
Incorporate durability & maintainability:
District maintenance staff played a huge role in the selection of finishes, materials, and systems for this project. All were selected for ease of maintenance and durability, as well as life cycle performance, local origin, (where possible), and aesthetics.
Be an integral community partner:
The community passed a bond to pay for building amenities that the state facility building funds do not - the performing arts space, applied technology labs, and additional sports facilities, as well as the upgraded mechanical system, lighting and interior tile wall finish. The stadium was built as a shared venture with the Western Arizona Community College down the street, and the City will be building a city park on 20 of the project’s acres. The health clinic, located at the front of the Admin building, is utilized by the greater community as well.
Appeal to the aesthetics of the future occupants:
The exterior colors were selected both to be a part of the desert, and to catch the eye of the community. Inside the complex, colors were chosen to enhance wayfinding, and create a sense of place – occupants know where they are, partly as a result of the theming of the building, partly due to the color with which they are surrounded. Theming shows up in a number of places – the timelines, which respond to their location on the campus, and the area appropriate quotes, etched on the glass, as well as the exterior signage – which tells patrons not only “where” – but “what”!

19. Gila Ridge High School Project Budget
This project had a total project budget from the State of Arizona of approximately $34 million, plus bond monies of $16 million from the local constituency, and included money for building design, city impact fees and permits, and fixtures, furniture, and equipment.

20. Gila Ridge High School Project Details Gila Ridge High School Yuma
Project Name
Gila Ridge High School
City
Yuma
State
Arizona
District Name
Yuma Union High School District #70
Supt/President
Toni Badone
Occupancy Date
August 1, 2007
Grades Housed
9-12
Capacity(Students)
1,800 
Site Size (acres)
40 Acres (school site: 40 acres, total site: 80 acres)
Gross Area (sq. ft.)
270,000 sq ft
Per Occupant(pupil)
150 sq ft
gross/net please indicate
Design and Build? No
If yes, Total Cost:
Includes:
If no,
Site Development:
$4,054,000
Building Construction:
$41,619,000
Fixed Equipment:
$1,500,000
Other:
Total:
$47,173,000

21. Gila Ridge High School Educational Specifications
Educational Specification is included in a separate PDF file.

22. Gila Ridge High School, Yuma, AZ
Confidential Form
Submitting Firm :
VCBO Architecture
Project Role
Architect of Record
Project Contact
Boyd McAllister
Title
Principal in Charge
Address
524 South 600 East
City, State or Province, Country
Salt Lake City, Utah
Phone
Joint Partner Firm:
Project Role
Project Contact
Title
Address
City, State or Province, Country
Phone
Other Firm:
Project Role
Project Contact
Title
Address
City, State or Province, Country
Phone
Construction Firm:
Pilkington Construction
Project Role
General Contractor
Project Contact
Jim Pilkington
Title
President
Address
2975 South Avenue B
City, State or Province, Country
Yuma, Arizona
Phone
Gila Ridge High School, Yuma, AZ

23. Photo Release Print, Sign, Scan and Submit with Package
Name of Project: Gila Ridge High School
Location of Project: Yuma, Arizona
Occupancy Date, if applicable: August 1, 2007
CEFPI has our permission to:
aSend photos electronically to jury members (required for entry).
aDisplay photos in the award winners’ area of the website, if selected as a finalist.
aDisplay photos on other sections of the website as representative CEFPI projects.
aPrint photos in CEFPI newsletters.
aPrint photos on CEFPI marketing materials, i.e. brochures , awards, call for entries, etc.
aPrint photos and project details in the CEFPI Design Portfolio, if selected as a finalist.
aSpecial projects with prior permission.
Please Note: CEFPI maintains an in-house archive of school designs as part of our research library.
Your information will be entered and recorded as one of those designs.
Firm: VCBO Architecture
Responsible Party/Photographer: Boyd McAllister
Signature:
Date of Release: May 15, 2009
Gila Ridge High School, Yuma, AZ