The new STEAM Center of Innovation was included in the District’s capital facilities bond which was approved by voters in February of 2018. It was intended to replace inadequate facilities in the existing high school for art and science and provide a permanent home for programs that are currently housed in the District Administration building and portables on the Fife High School campus. At the same time, it presented an opportunity to create a new learning environment at Fife High School, one that is designed to support contemporary approaches to teaching and learning.
STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) will collocate a diversity of programs that have historically been independent departments in the same learning center to encourage cross-discipline collaboration and support the District’s four “C’s”—Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking, and Creativity.
The new building will be approximately 31,000 SF and house 11 new teaching stations as well as a central mechanical plant that will eventually serve the entire campus.
McGranahan worked with the District and High school staff members to determine how their STEAM curriculum could be best supported with this new facility. Additionally, we worked on master planning elements of the site to determine the best building placement for future High School expansion and phased construction.
