Owego School District: New Elementary School
Architect:
Highland Associates
Location:
Owego, NY
Project Size:
160,000 GSF
Project Budget:
$4,000,000
Owego Apalachin Central School District (OACSD) is a K through 12 public school district located in Owego, New York which was heavily affected by the 2011 Tropical Storm Lee. The flood waters from this Tropical Storm destroyed the existing Elementary School, prompting a FEMA-funded project to renovate and expand the building. Convergent Technologies was engaged directly by Highland Associates to provide Audiovisual Systems design services for a wide range of classroom types and advanced interactive learning facilities. CTDG’s scope of work included drafting of full Audiovisual and Security Systems design drawings and CSI-format specifications, cost estimating, collaborative design review sessions with OACSD staff and faculty, on-site inspections of infrastructure, bidder proposal evaluation, contractor submittal review, and final acceptance.
The New Elementary School was designed to meet the highest standards of multimedia technology in order to support advanced interactive classroom spaces as well as larger educational environments. The forty-four general classrooms included in the Elementary School feature interactive projection technology, wireless tablet integration, as well as the ability to display, modify, and store centrally managed educational content over a robust network connection providing gigabit Ethernet to each teaching station. Three 90-person gathering spaces are also included in the project, referred to as “family rooms”, which feature distance learning technology to support Virtual Field Trip applications. The facility also includes a 300-seat auditorium, which includes audio and video recording technology to support a wide range of performances and presentations, as well as a large-format 16:10 front projection system with a 274” diagonal image area, with video processing capabilities allowing custom image sizes and multi-window image processing. The Elementary School also features a Gymnasium with a high-fidelity audio reproduction and voice reinforcement system, along with a Cafeteria outfitted to support small presentations and group discussions. A building-wide network-based Digital Signage system was specified, to include a content management server and associated software to assist staff in the production and management of signage content.