New classrooms are on track towards completion and work on the music department is already complete. Work on the school’s north addition, facing Aurora Avenue is currently underway. Renovation on the ‘flat wing’ area, which is adjacent to the band area, to the west of the administration area, is expected to be completed by mid-2011.
Kevin Havens, Sr. VP and director of design at Wight & Company stated that, the challenge at Naperville Central was to rebuild an aging and inefficiently configured high school into a modern and innovative learning environment for the future. The solution crafted by the architects involved a design that radically reconfigured portions of the existing building and combined them with bold new additions that will accommodate flexible and technology-enriched educational opportunities.
The officials are planning to carry out the renovation and construction project in a fast paced manner to take the school from the 1960s to 2011 in 90 days. The $87.7 million addition and renovation project at Naperville Central High School includes approximately 170,000 square feet of new construction and 370,000 square feet of renovation.
The completed facilities will include: new global communication and research learning environments; new athletics and wellness spaces; conversion of existing science lab spaces into a Fine Arts & Music wing; conversion of existing cafeteria space into a new Library & Media Center; enclosure of an existing exterior courtyard, involving the construction of a three-storey wing, to form a new student cafeteria and commons space; extensive site work to adjust parking and circulation, as well as a new athletic field and running track and synthetic turf in the stadium; and extensive upgrade of the mechanical, electrical, plumbing and technology infrastructure. The entire project is scheduled to be completed as a multi-phase project in 2011.
Besides the Naperville Central High School, the Naperville School District is planning to carry out renovations at Prairie and Ranch View elementary schools in the district. The main focus at the elementary school renovation project will be safety.
