The new addition brought an opportunity to free up existing rooms in the building for classrooms and small group rooms, relocation of the media center to a larger space in the addition, and brought music and art classes from across the street under the same roof.

The addition is tucked away within an existing courtyard space. The Owner elected to use an architectural metal siding panel for the sides of the building not visible from the street. The face of the building visible from the city park uses brick to complement the existing building design.

New spaces are: media center, music room, art room, and STEM classroom. The spaces feature suspended ceiling clouds hung from black painted roof trusses. Improvements within the existing building: Rethinking of the administrative offices area, creation of small group rooms, individual student lockers by repurposing shared cubby spaces. Improvements to the building exterior included an enlarged bus lane and new sidewalks.

Work was distributed among 3 phases: summer - existing building, school year - addition, and summer - existing building.

Project: Addition and Remodel of Taft Elementary School
Location: Humboldt, Iowa
Architect: Allers Associates Architects, PC
Contractors: Sande Construction, Inc. (general), Pleva Mechanical (plumbing), Dahl Air Conditioning and Heating (HVAC), Davis Electric (electrical)
Completed: August, 2018
Area: 8,946 s.f.