EXP was recently awarded the 2019 Mayor’s Prize Award in Architecture in the category of Institutional Design from the City of Halifax and the Nova Scotia Architects Association for work on the new Island View High School project. This award celebrates local architectural excellence and the execution of projects that, “act as agents for building and strengthening a sense of community and connection to place.” The award was presented by Spyro Trifos, president of the Nova Scotia Association of Architects. Senior architect, Stephen Outerbridge, was present to accept the award on EXP’s behalf.
The jury appreciated “… the way this project merges both program organization and site response with a strong design concept, expressed clearly through its massing. In harnessing these potentials, it offers an uplifting and aspirational moment in an otherwise very typical coastal community, seen to offer an enriching adolescent experience and positive impact on the surrounding area.”
Additional comments: “Sited on axis with the ocean, the project optimizes exceptional views, a learning street axis extends the siting concept with interior ‘break out spaces’ on 3 levels. A LEED Silver grade 9-12 high school, the design process involved multiple community consultations. The material palette reflects local materials found in nature,” and “Value of building circulation as social space and a place for learning outside the classroom.”
EXP was the prime consultant for this new $21M, 77,825 square foot high school project. The school is located on a steeply sloped site, with amazing views of the ocean. The design embraces the site, which enables grade access at the mid-floor level of three floors while minimizing the extent of site disturbance. The school was designed using inspiration from the WELL Building Standard, positive CPTED principals and the adjacent coastal environment. The materials used reflect these textures and local calming natural influences, thus helping to reduce stress in the newly designed learning environments.
EXP provided architectural, structural, civil, building envelope science, commissioning, energy efficiency, mechanical and contract administration services.