High Desert High School

General contractor Jaynes Corp of Albuquerque is erecting an 80,000-sq.-ft. high school for the Pojaque Valley School District in the shadow of New Mexico's Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

The project is the continuation of a master plan that also calls for a new performing arts center and an eventual remodel of the current Pojaque Valley High School.

Jaynes will also renovate an older elementary school at the new high school's site.
After the remodel, the campus will feature a total of 134,000 sq. ft.

Once the high school is completed, about 650 students will move from the existing high school, which, after a renovation, will be used as a middle school.

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Contractors on the project are under the gun after work started in April but was quickly stopped because of site issues.

"Once we got out of the ground, there was a two-month delay because of the owner's electrical situation," said project manager Jerry Lucero of Jaynes Corp. An old duct bank was placed in the middle of the site, forcing the owner to develop a last minute contingency plan.

"We have to get it done for next year's school session," Lucero added. "There is no room for error. It has to happen, and I think we can make it."

Designed by NCA Architects of Albuquerque, the $13.4 million high school features a 10,000-sq.-ft. media room with sweeping views of the Pojaque Valley and the Rio Grande River from behind a curved glass curtain wall. The state-of-the-art media center also features a computer room and open study areas.

"We put a large reading room along that curve that is fully glazed so the kids have an outdoor connection at all times with what they are working on indoors," said Tom Wilber, the NCA project architect. "We then used natural light to provide a comfortably lit space, with the reading room capturing views off the north and east side of the site."

Because many of the school district's advisory board members are employees of the national labs at Los Alamos, the school features a high-tech data system that taps into the fiber-optic system serving Los Alamos.

Another school feature is a "dynamic learning area," a glass-enclosed space in the hallway where students and teachers can conduct experiments and display art.
The school's design meant some high block walls - some as tall as 30 ft. - , spread out over three grade levels.

"The high masonry parapet walls were pretty challenging in design and construction," said Chris Romero, a staff engineer at Albuquerque's Chavez-Grieves Engineers.
"Trying to brace those parapet walls was pretty tough."

The school is under construction on a slab-on-grade, 4-in. foundation on top of a 6-in. base course. Masonry bearing walls are capped off with steel joists and a metal deck roof with a 90 mm EPDM membrane.

The one- and two-story project includes five science labs, two music rooms, art rooms, offices, two vocational shops and regular classrooms.

As part of an agreement with the New Mexico State Mining and Energy Department, schools across the state moved away from central plants to one- and two-stage roof top units, depending on the school's location.

In northern New Mexico, the units are a combination of evaporative air and chilled air. In southern New Mexico, with more demanding heat loads, schools only use chilled air units. Furnaces are also part of the package. The Pojaque project calls for 29 rooftop units.

"This type of system is pretty common now in northern New Mexico because of the energy conservation requirements," said John Baumgartel, a principal with Santa Fe-based M & E Engineering Inc. "When outside conditions are extreme and evaporative cooling won't keep up with the load, it kicks in the refrigeration. It's pretty efficient."