Jefferson Elementary School - Summit, New Jersey
Posted: March 30, 2022 | Projects
Jefferson Elementary School is one of five elementary schools in the Summit Public School District. Summit’s Architect-of-Record, EI Associates, designed an addition to Jefferson Elementary School in order to address Summit’s expanding student population.
Photo Courtesy of EI Associates, Architects & Engineers, P.A.
The Jefferson addition has been designed to not only provide additional classroom space, but to also address site circulation, safety, and security concerns.
This two-story addition provides the District with five small group instruction rooms, special education classrooms and toilet rooms on the second floor, and a new main security entrance and main office area, as well as a multi-purpose lobby on the lower level. To provide better circulation and to utilize the sloped site, the design includes a new terraced outdoor educational area, walkways, and a new entrance structure.
The goal of this project was to solve critical safety and security issues while providing important classroom and administration space. EI Associates built upon this opportunity by improving building and site circulation.
Improvements relied on orienting a new main entrance with a new entrance plaza and Palladian-style pavilion reminiscent of Monticello, which was the home of Thomas Jefferson, the third president and an architect. The new entrance structure provides a readily-identifiable main entrance and provides a symbol of our country’s rich history.
Designed as a skeletal structure, the new entrance will be a modern interpretation of the Monticello dome, and will provide students and the community a historic link to the past.
Lacking a continuous corridor to the main school building, the existing rear wing of the Jefferson Elementary School previously required exterior access along steep grades. To address this unsafe condition, a new internal corridor/meeting area was designed to connect the new entrance to the existing building corridors.
The new internal corridor navigates the varying site grades and building levels, providing safe interior student circulation to the previously disconnected rear portion of the existing school, – completing the building circulation system.
The new building entrance re-orients the building toward the existing parking area and outdoor play areas. Steep grades at the site are utilized by construction of a new outdoor amphitheater. Handicapped parking is provided at the main entrance, and car and bus drop-off and pick-up is provided nearby.
The new addition and site improvements provide an exciting focus to the school. They improve access and circulation, and provide a new outdoor learning environment, meeting spaces, new classrooms, and administration facilities, while improving critical site and building circulation issues. The project was completed on budget and was ready for occupancy at the start of the 2016-2017 school year.
Architect, Cost Estimator, Structural, Mechanical & Electrical Engineer:
EI Associates, Architects & Engineers, P.A.
8 Ridgedale Avenue
Cedar Knolls, NJ 07927
www.eiassociates.com
General Contractor
UniMak LLC
82 Midland Avenue, #D
Saddle Brook, NJ 07663
Location: Summit, New Jersey
Date Bid: Feb 2014
Construction Period: Feb 2014 to May 2016
Total Square Feet: 14,510
Site: 8.2 acres.
Number of Buildings: One; 8 classrooms, seating 160.
Building Sizes: First floor, 7,975; second floor, 6,536; total, 14,510 square feet.
Building Height: First floor, 9’6”; second floor, 9’6”; total, 27’.
Basic Construction Type: 2C & 11B/Addition & Renovation.
Foundation: Cast-in-place, pier & grade beam, reinforced concrete, slab-on-grade.
Exterior Walls: CMU, brick, curtain wall.
Roof: Built-up.
Floors: Concrete.
Interior Walls: CMU, metal stud drywall.
Click here to view the full cost details for this project in the March/April 2022 issue of DCD