Finn Hill Junior High
Kirkland, WA
Mahlum Architects
Lake Washington School District
Creating Spaces Conducive to Learning and Expression
Finn Hill Junior High is a new, 120,000 square foot school with approximately 30 faculty and 430 students in grades 6-8. The $29,400,000 building is designed to Washington Sustainable School Program specifications and features 24 general classrooms, 5 science classrooms and 6 specialized classrooms including special education, fine arts, technology and a media center. The school, completed in 2011, also houses the regional production kitchen.
Challenges:
Architectural, mechanical and A/V design services were requested for the facility, including the commons, classrooms, band room, choir room, hallways, gym, weight room, counselor’s room, kitchen, locker bays, and faculty meeting areas. The primary air handling units for each wing were located within a mechanical room that shared a wall with a classroom. These units required special consideration to meet interior noise standards. In the band and choir rooms, audio equipment was needed for recording musical sessions. The music needed to be clearly reproduced and played back with adequate volume and uniform coverage of the audience.
Solutions:
Design recommendations were given for sound acoustics in learning areas and common areas requiring high speech intelligibility. The duct-borne and radiated sound paths from the air handling units were evaluated and a noise mitigation plan was established. For the band and choir rooms, SSA Acoustics provided detailed recommendations and cost estimates for microphones, digital recorder, CD burner, subwoofer, amplifiers, speakers, mixers and equipment racks that fulfilled recording, playback and storage needs.
History:
Mahlum, deeply rooted in the Northwest, is an architectural firm dedicated to celebrating community identity, kindling connections to the earth and building neighborhood vitality. In our years of business, SSA has been invited to provide acoustical design recommendations for over a dozen commercial and education projects including K-12 schools and university buildings. SSA was an active participant in writing the 2010 WSSP guidelines for acoustics.
References:
Mitch Kent, Project Manager, Mahlum Architecture
Anjali Grant, AIA, LEED AP, Mahlum Architects