BY JARED GORBY
Check it out: here and here and here.
Awesome work, Jared.
Can you put the whole school on the sidehill and somewhat on the playground below, so that the students can attend school while the new building is being built? What about a T type shape – with the top of the T being the side hill, and the stem of the T being into the middle of the playground, with bus drop-off/pick-up on one side and car service on the other side of the stem. Then when the students move in, the top of the hill is razed and converted into playground?
updated view:
Jared Gorby:
Perspection so you get the feel… don’t trust those shadows, its cut open.
New Woodburn Community School 
February 20, 2011 at 2:22 am
Thanks for the post, and the comments, all duly noted. The designs I’ve been working on incorporate the existing building, while enveloping it somewhat with new addition in phases.
We aim to preserve the existing building, not only because it acts as a visual landmark on top of the hill but also because the greenest building is the existing building, in terms of a project’s embodied energy. (also another great blog @ http://greenestbuildingistheonealreadybuilt.blogspot.com/ )
The orange building in the conceptual designs represent the existing building’s relative height and footprint.
I am currently working on two other completely different designs. When finished, I will reanalyze them all and see what works and what doesn’t in all of them, then combining them into a composite design. At that point I’ll start on the landscaping designs.
Keep an eye out for some more blog posts from me soon for more designs, and thanks for the site traffic!
February 20, 2011 at 2:35 am
Yes, it’s not clear what the best building would be or the best location on the site.
However, other major concerns must be balanced along with energy. This includes how to provide for bus and car (and foot) traffic, especially if this were to be a consolidated (large) school.
A consolidated school would be far better served by access being more or less off Richwood Avenue (or, better, the side streets off Richwood), rather than mainly off Charles Avenue.
Now, if the few houses along Fortney Avenue were purchased and razed, then Fortney could be expanded and buses and cars might simply be able to swing around briefly onto Charles from Richwood. However, there would be major energy costs in removing the houses, losing the housing, and in road building.
Nevertheless, it should be ascertained whether or not the students could attend school at any alternate site for about a year if indeed the top of the hill would be far and away the best location…
A school there will be a major landmark no matter what part of the grounds it is built on.