This is a stupid question (my daughter told me) but I thought have to ask someone smart than me for a cold water over my head moment: we are in the process to build a K-8 charter school in North Carolina, what I really love is colonial Williamsburg style building for school, I am immigrant myself, this was what I learned from my childhood text book how American elementary/middle school looks like. Most of American charter schools today are not taking a such approach. I thought if we can find existing old elementary school building use its blue printing, update feature to build a new campus would achieve goal also save money from design cost, since all the information about building specification is public record, government already paid for, and we are public school. The questions, is this doable by simple transfer old design with new feature to meet today’s building code, is there any saving benefits for doing so.
I love to heard from people knows!
Non Sequitur
May 7, 20 3:17 pm
hire an architect who shares an interest in reviving the style. Easy Peasy.
Chad Miller
May 7, 20 3:23 pm
Hire an architect to do this.
Reproducing a 'classical' style like the Colonial Williamsburg isn't going to be more costly than building in a more modern style. Especially for a larger building like a K-8 school. You're going to want an architects expertise with master planning, programming, building codes, security, energy codes, and not to mention how to make the building look good while creating a learning environment that is in line with the teaching style of the school. This isn't easy to do and a 'one size fits all' solution isn't going to work for you.
If you're going to spend the money on a new school make it worth it and do it right from the beginning. That's just my opinion after working on K-12 education projects for the last 15 years.
Chad Miller
May 7, 20 5:31 pm
Whoops! I meant to say "Reproducing a 'classical' style like the Colonial Williamsburg IS going to be more costly than building in a more modern style."
josephzhou
May 7, 20 4:20 pm
Chad, appreciate your input, 100% agree "spend the money on a new school make it worth it and do it right from the beginning. " ought to give students a good feeling when they walk to their campus day in and day out, is their learning environment, now I knew what's requirement need be reflected in RFP
Chad Miller
May 7, 20 5:31 pm
You're welcome. See my whoops above though before you proceed. Sorry about that.
midlander
May 7, 20 9:38 pm
the quick answer is that building a new school off copies of drawings from an old existing one is not in any way possible. you can absolutely find some examples to provide direction for an architect, but you will need to go through the full design process. it will start with a a feasibility study of the proposed site based on your actual needs and limitations as an organization. only after some basic parameters are settled and feasibility is confirmed (based on zoning, space needs, traffic, utilities access , rough costs and financing plans) then can start discussions about what the building will look like. fwiw i grew up in an old east coast town. our lovely 19c elementary school had a federalist brick style, and there was a large 1980's addition that did a good job integrating the original design. but it was definitely different looking. true reproduction is a specialty and often very expensive to do well.
midlander
May 7, 20 9:58 pm
buildings are not like consumers products where you turn on the factory and build some copies at a predictable price. it's more like event planning where every party is different and everything needs to get priced and planned a bit differently.
senjohnblutarsky
May 8, 20 8:52 am
You can go for the aesthetic, but the schools we are designing today aren't the same schools that were being designed 10 years ago. The bones are the same, but the details are ever changing.
It's good that you know what you want for an aesthetic; you now need to know who much you want to stick to it. Most of the time, when a client says they want some arbitrary historical look, it never turns out to be that look. They just want a watered down, disneyworld version.
Then, as others have said, bring a competent educational facilities architect on board to do the work. I actually lost a North Carolina job a while back to a guy who had done small stuff like breweries and a ski hut. Because he was supposedly going to be cheaper (we never actually talked exact fees, so, I'm not sure how that determination was made). My firm has been doing schools work for over 40 years. Seems like the logical choice was made.
Almosthip
May 8, 20 11:52 am
Your idea is great but unfortunately codes and regulations change. So any plan you have would need to meet the latest issue of your local building codes, plumbing codes, gas codes and so on. A professional (Architect) would still have to be responsible and liable for the design and coordination of the project. Find an architect that you can share these ideas with and has a similar designs.
liberty bell
May 10, 20 9:34 am
Maybe call these guys for some advice:
(Please note I’m joking. These buildings are heinous.)
SneakyPete
May 11, 20 11:57 am
looks like that school is HEADING in the right direction...
joseffischer
May 11, 20 2:16 pm
I think I've become callous (well haven't we all, that's a given) but the OP really sounds like he's asking if having really old blueprints somehow will save him money on design. The answer is no:
1) new school layouts and use are different than the old buildings, and even 1970-90s schools require multiple renovations to add features that new schools demand. The floor plans, and even classroom sizes, would just not be the same. 2) new construction is entirely different from old construction, with code requirements for insulation etc, and just that we kept finding cheaper and cheaper ways to build. If you go with the old load-bearing brick construction, your "savings" in design would be FAR outstripped by construction cost. 3) Even if one could use the blue-prints as a basis-of-design, all design steps/hours would still need to occur, and would actually add time to the process, due to having to transfer old drawings into digital format, a manual task involving scanning and tracing in the architect's software of choice. Everything would then need to be checked against the codes, regulations and conditions of the construction site for your proposed school.
TL:DR if a client came to me with anything more than the details/profiles and photos of an old project thinking this would somehow be helpful and therefore should save them money, I would automatically start adding a PitA fee to all dealings with that client.
This is a stupid question (my daughter told me) but I thought have to ask someone smart than me for a cold water over my head moment: we are in the process to build a K-8 charter school in North Carolina, what I really love is colonial Williamsburg style building for school, I am immigrant myself, this was what I learned from my childhood text book how American elementary/middle school looks like. Most of American charter schools today are not taking a such approach. I thought if we can find existing old elementary school building use its blue printing, update feature to build a new campus would achieve goal also save money from design cost, since all the information about building specification is public record, government already paid for, and we are public school. The questions, is this doable by simple transfer old design with new feature to meet today’s building code, is there any saving benefits for doing so.
I love to heard from people knows!
hire an architect who shares an interest in reviving the style. Easy Peasy.
Hire an architect to do this.
Reproducing a 'classical' style like the Colonial Williamsburg isn't going to be more costly than building in a more modern style. Especially for a larger building like a K-8 school. You're going to want an architects expertise with master planning, programming, building codes, security, energy codes, and not to mention how to make the building look good while creating a learning environment that is in line with the teaching style of the school. This isn't easy to do and a 'one size fits all' solution isn't going to work for you.
If you're going to spend the money on a new school make it worth it and do it right from the beginning. That's just my opinion after working on K-12 education projects for the last 15 years.
Whoops! I meant to say "Reproducing a 'classical' style like the Colonial Williamsburg IS going to be more costly than building in a more modern style."
Chad, appreciate your input, 100% agree "spend the money on a new school make it worth it and do it right from the beginning. " ought to give students a good feeling when they walk to their campus day in and day out, is their learning environment, now I knew what's requirement need be reflected in RFP
You're welcome. See my whoops above though before you proceed. Sorry about that.
the quick answer is that building a new school off copies of drawings from an old existing one is not in any way possible. you can absolutely find some examples to provide direction for an architect, but you will need to go through the full design process. it will start with a a feasibility study of the proposed site based on your actual needs and limitations as an organization. only after some basic parameters are settled and feasibility is confirmed (based on zoning, space needs, traffic, utilities access , rough costs and financing plans) then can start discussions about what the building will look like. fwiw i grew up in an old east coast town. our lovely 19c elementary school had a federalist brick style, and there was a large 1980's addition that did a good job integrating the original design. but it was definitely different looking. true reproduction is a specialty and often very expensive to do well.
buildings are not like consumers products where you turn on the factory and build some copies at a predictable price. it's more like event planning where every party is different and everything needs to get priced and planned a bit differently.
You can go for the aesthetic, but the schools we are designing today aren't the same schools that were being designed 10 years ago. The bones are the same, but the details are ever changing.
It's good that you know what you want for an aesthetic; you now need to know who much you want to stick to it. Most of the time, when a client says they want some arbitrary historical look, it never turns out to be that look. They just want a watered down, disneyworld version.
Then, as others have said, bring a competent educational facilities architect on board to do the work. I actually lost a North Carolina job a while back to a guy who had done small stuff like breweries and a ski hut. Because he was supposedly going to be cheaper (we never actually talked exact fees, so, I'm not sure how that determination was made). My firm has been doing schools work for over 40 years. Seems like the logical choice was made.
Your idea is great but unfortunately codes and regulations change. So any plan you have would need to meet the latest issue of your local building codes, plumbing codes, gas codes and so on. A professional (Architect) would still have to be responsible and liable for the design and coordination of the project. Find an architect that you can share these ideas with and has a similar designs.
Maybe call these guys for some advice:
(Please note I’m joking. These buildings are heinous.)
looks like that school is HEADING in the right direction...
I think I've become callous (well haven't we all, that's a given) but the OP really sounds like he's asking if having really old blueprints somehow will save him money on design. The answer is no:
1) new school layouts and use are different than the old buildings, and even 1970-90s schools require multiple renovations to add features that new schools demand. The floor plans, and even classroom sizes, would just not be the same.
2) new construction is entirely different from old construction, with code requirements for insulation etc, and just that we kept finding cheaper and cheaper ways to build. If you go with the old load-bearing brick construction, your "savings" in design would be FAR outstripped by construction cost.
3) Even if one could use the blue-prints as a basis-of-design, all design steps/hours would still need to occur, and would actually add time to the process, due to having to transfer old drawings into digital format, a manual task involving scanning and tracing in the architect's software of choice. Everything would then need to be checked against the codes, regulations and conditions of the construction site for your proposed school.
TL:DR if a client came to me with anything more than the details/profiles and photos of an old project thinking this would somehow be helpful and therefore should save them money, I would automatically start adding a PitA fee to all dealings with that client.