The $156-million, 276,000-sq-ft Mountain View High School replaces the original facility that was built in 1981. Featuring safety and security updates, the new campus has a more compact footprint, with two- and three-story classroom wings, a gymnasium, auditorium, kitchen and cafeteria, media center, front offices, support space, collaboration areas and career and technical education spaces.

Site development included expanded parking lots, a new football field, tennis courts, track and field facility and two new baseball and softball fields.

Completed on time and under budget in February 2023, the high school is part of an $831-million investment in Evergreen Public Schools (EPS) via a 2018 voter-approved bond measure.

Photo by Josh Partee

During design, the contractor worked with all project stakeholders and the public to develop a site phasing and logistics plan to reduce construction impacts on adjacent neighbors and the operational high school throughout the project schedule. This process aligned design with the phasing and logistics plans, reducing costs and ensuring minimal impacts. This approach along with procurement planning with subcontractors helped Skanska save $9.4 million off the owner’s budget.

Photo by Josh Partee

Upon completion of the new high school, the district had a few weeks to move teacher belongings and furniture into the school before demolition of the original school. This involved detailed planning meetings with the district and the moving contractor to achieve the tight timeline. Once demolition of the existing building and site began, the grass soccer field was converted into temporary student parking while the new lots were built.

Photo by Josh Partee

For the theater structure, the contractor placed 238,000-lb tilt-up panels on concrete stem walls. The design also incorporated an underfloor plenum cooling system that had to be engineered into the tilt panels. This provided increased flexibility to reconfigure building services as well as cost savings. But the underseat HVAC mechanical plenum created unusual structural and mechanical details that required early planning and coordination. Skanska engaged a third-party engineer to design means and methods necessary to erect the large panels. Steel plates were throughbolted to the stem wall underneath, which supported the back of the tilt panels during erection and perfectly aligned them to the wall below.