November 23, 2020

Fife High School to get new STEAM center

Rendering by McGranahan Architects [enlarge]

The STEAM Center of Innovation’s entry plaza will connect to an indoor social/learning space.

Construction is slated to begin in January on the $25 million Fife High School STEAM Center of Innovation at 5616 20th St. E. in Fife.

The Fife Public Schools project is expected to be complete in December 2021.

McGranahan Architects designed the 31,000-square-foot freestanding classroom building for the high school's campus.

The district is seeking a general contractor, according to a notice, at tinyurl.com/y3cecnwo, that ran Nov. 9 in the DJC. Bids are due Dec. 8. The construction estimate is $15 million.

The STEAM Center of Innovation was included in the capital construction bond voters approved in February 2018. It was envisioned as a first step in establishing a vision for what the future of education could be at Fife High School, according to Christopher J. Lilley, managing principal at McGranahan Architects.

Lilley said the project provides a new home for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (STEAM) programs now housed in inadequate facilities on the campus. He said it offers an environment that encourages and supports cross-curricular exploration and instruction.

The three-story center will have two general classrooms, four science labs, a graphic arts lab, a robotics lab, an art studio, a video production studio, a business lab and a student store.

It also will have two large shared activity areas for cross-curricular instruction and social learning. That includes one on the first floor for teaching or for students to gather and socialize outside of classrooms, something lacking in the current school, Lilley said.

The project team includes Construction Services Group, owner's program manager; AHBL, civil engineer/landscape architect; PCS Structural Solutions, structural engineer; BCE Engineers, mechanical/electrical engineer; BRC Acoustics, acoustical engineer; and Rider Levett Bucknall (RLB), cost estimating.

The new building replaces classroom space that was previously housed in portables and another building on the campus that will be demolished under a separate contract.

The district is also building a new elementary school on the opposite side of the same site. The 110,000-square-foot Fife Elementary School is scheduled for completion in fall 2021. Integrus Architecture designed the school, and the contractor is Cornerstone General Contractors.