Before Grant High School’s remodel, whichstarted in 2016
and concluded in 2019, the school building had a vastly different layout: There was a disjointed basement and no forum classrooms or main stairs. Among the contributors to the design, development and construction of the campus were architects from Mahlum Architects and workers from Colas Construction.
Alyssa Leeviraphan, the project manager of the remodel’s design process, notes that community and staff input were critical. The team collaborated with a committee called the Design Advisory Group, which consisted of the principal and students who gave input on the project and aided in the design process.
Leeviraphan recalls speaking with a student who voiced their concerns about restrooms in the former building. The student said that the gendered restrooms created an uncomfortable environment that often resulted in bullying. At the time, the only gender-neutral restrooms in the school required a key, which was a barrier for students who wanted to use them. This community input was a significant factor in the decision to include gender-neutral bathrooms in the remodel.
The addition of gender-neutral restrooms was just one of many steps taken toward improving the comfort and connectivity in the new building. Jeremy Thompson, an architect at Mahlum, says that a major goal of the design process was to make the space at Grant feel more lively and connected. “We tried to … bring daylight into the spaces, make them kind of part of the connective tissue of the building or the hallways and just make it a little more active and a space that you might want to go and spend a little bit of time,” he says.
Thompson says that the school’s original basement layout made wheelchair accessibility “incredibly challenging.” The team tackled this issue by connecting the basement levels and opening up the overall space.
The team at Mahlum worked to incorporate a sense of connectivity into many aspects of the building’s design, such as the forum spaces. Brian Hollar, another architect at Mahlum, says the team created the forums — which were previously solid floors — to “build more community” and “make it a more connected learning environment.”
Marc-Daniel Domond, the vice president of operations at Colas Construction, says that before the building was remodeled, it was much moreconstricted and had more division between its spaces. “The cafeteria was kind of its own little dungeon in the basement,” he says. “People always went off campus to eat, and so they wanted to make sure the flow of the new cafeteria and eating room would feel inclusive to everybody.”
Domond attended Benson Polytechnic High School, and recalls his experience visiting Grant for sporting events. “The school was really disjointed and not connected, and you just felt that,” he says. Thompson says that he enjoys the contrast between the new building’s interior and exterior, and appreciates how retaining the original look of the exterior allowed the building to keep some of its identity. “I like the fact that the building can show a little bit of its evolution over the years. You’re not trying to come in and build something in 2020 that looks like it’s trying to pretend like it’s from 1920,” he says.
The design and construction teams preserved other aspects of the original building in the new design. Domond says that the original location of the band room was kept the same in the remodel, because it was used as a filming location for the 1995 movie “Mr. Holland’s Opus.”
“We wanted to make sure we kept it in the same location, to try to make sure (to preserve) that kind of history,” he says.
With the remodel being completed in the fall of 2019, the building was only in use for a short period of time before the COVID-19 pandemic sent students home for remote learning. Domond says that the short turnaround of students entering and leaving the new building felt like a unique circumstance. Many teachers and staff members saw the building go from being divided and separated to repurposed and connected after the remodel. Hollar notes that feedback from the community in recent years has been quite positive. “It’s great to see it revisited and see how everything’s holding up,” says Hollar. “Generally, we’ve heard really positive feedback from community members.”
Domond believes that the remodel is a testament to Grant’s legacy and is very important to the local community as well. “Grant is an iconic school. It means so much to the community and the neighbors and neighborhood, and so many people have been touched in some way or another by Grant High School,” he says. “Being a part of that build makes me feel great. So, every time I drive by, I’m like, ‘Man, I was part of that.’”
