Largo High School
Largo, Fla.    
Award of Merit 

Owner: Pinellas County Schools
Lead Design Firm: Harvard Jolly Architects
General Contractor: Ajax Building Corp.
Civil Engineer: George F. Young Inc.
Structural Engineer: McCarthy and Associates Inc.
MEP Engineer: Engineering Matrix

Modeled after a college campus, the new Largo High School’s design emphasizes efficient transitions between classes, safety, security and technology readiness. The project included construction of two buildings totaling approximately 229,000 sq ft. They contain classrooms, a student union, and a 1,600-seat gymnasium, as well as a central energy plant. The project also included renovations to the existing auditorium.

To facilitate the project, Ajax Building Corp. first constructed a 54-classroom temporary campus on the school’s former baseball field, completing the work during the summer before the start of construction so as to not move students during the school year. To reduce costs, the project team reconditioned a vacant school building to provide temporary space for administration offices, the cafeteria and classrooms.

In order to architecturally tie-in the existing historic red-clay brick auditorium with the new buildings, the project team opted to cast select areas of the tilt-wall panels with matching red-clay thin-brick inlay. To ensure quality installations, the contractor first erected several full-scale mock-ups.

With Largo High designated to be a shelter capable of supporting 4,000 people, the school features a potable water system that can be safely disconnected from the public water service and reconnected to an on-campus well supply, utilizing a chlorination system.

The project team earned zero rates for both lost-time accidents and recordable incidents.