RBS Design Group unveiled the newest renderings for the future Daviess County Middle School property to the Daviess County Public Schools board of education Tuesday. Board members told RBS they were pleased that DCMS would be the first school in Daviess County to have multi-functional emergency shelter spaces.
The one comment RBS got from the Kentucky Department of Education was about some of the narrow niches the design revealed in the original drawing. Those ducts — which were deemed possible security concerns by KDE will be filled in with storage spaces to go in those voids, said Principal Architect Mike Ranney.
Otherwise, the layout has remained mostly the same as previous drawings. The new building will boast some of the same features as the previous, such as arched windows.
“Again, I think this design has that element of timelessness,” said Board Chair Tom Payne. “That’s a beautiful design.”
Self-contained shelter units that have their own separate ventilation system, electricity, water and fire-proof walls are being built in each of the middle school’s three pods, and will be used during emergencies, such as storms and possible violent activity that may occur. Board members were impressed with Steve Martin’s design ability to make the rooms multi-functional.
“It encompasses the computer lab as a functional space,” Ranney said. “We also have to have a hatch to the above. It’s just a ladder with a hatch at the top.”
Martin said those hatches would be used in case both exits of the shelter were blocked by debris.
The shelters would have to block 250 mile-per-hour winds from the outside and would be fireproof for an estimated two hours.
“There will be staff restrooms back there, but they’ll serve as shelter restrooms when you’re in the shelter,” Martin said. “In the corridor outside those behind a door only staff can get in, we’re going to put a communications control panel for emergency situations. That’ll keep each shelter in touch with each other, in touch with the main office, in touch with emergency services and allow them to control the doors and access in and out from that one location.”
Martin said each shelter can fit 300 students, plus staff. All of the students in each grade should be able to fit inside each shelter comfortably, Martin said.
“I have a functional mind — that’s kind of the way I think, and the fact that it has a day-to-day practical use that you’ve been able to incorporate into that, and the uniqueness of being able to have three of those to serve so many different facets is really ingenious, and I applaud you for utilizing the space and the law with your creativity,” said Superintendent Matt Robbins.
The new DCMS campus will be located off of Calumet Trace, adjacent to Gateway Commons. The 900-student middle school is expected to open in fall of 2021.
