Schools


Named after a Native American Indian tribe, like other schools in the district, Dakota High School is a new $38.3-million, 398,000 square-foot (36,975 square-meter) facility for 2,000 students. To capture the school's natural surroundings, the architects suggested using materials to create "bluffs and buttes with a sand color and a hint of green," says architect Randy Sprunger of Fanning/Howey Associates, Inc. Initially, the design team developed this image using a smooth, terra-cotta-colored brick. But the contractor suggested a pigmented, ground-face concrete masonry unit instead, and the architects became more pleased with it than the original concept.
"We were able to get the same colors and tones we were looking for, but with an exposed aggregate that gave the building a warm, more natural appearance," says Sprunger. The block producer also provided a special shape in the same color, to transition from the projected concrete masonry plinth at the base of the walls and columns to the lighter brick above. The same colored, split-face concrete block was also brought inside the building and wrapped around the base of interior brick columns for uniformity.