LOCATION
Oak Harbor, Ohio
COMPLETION
2024
SCOPE
Addition & Renovation
Benton-Carroll-Salem Local Schools serves approximately 1,400 PK-12 students. Garmann Miller was selected as the design professional to guide the district through its plan of consolidating from three buildings to two. Our goal was to reduce operating and maintenance costs, create efficiencies of space and staffing, and provide the best academic opportunities for students.
Oak Harbor High School’s existing capacity was able to support the move-in of the seventh graders without any major construction or renovation. A middle school wrestling room and increased band storage were provided by repurposing existing spaces. Color-specific signage differentiates the middle school wing from the high school spaces and promotes connectedness to the school. A courtyard for seventh and eighth graders was added between the original high school section and the 1995 wing to help facilitate outdoor learning for students.
Significant renovations were identified at Oak Harbor Middle School, and the burden to keep it in service led to the decision to move 4-6 grade students out. A new 45,797 sf addition was constructed at R.C. Waters Elementary School, effectively making two separate buildings—Oak Harbor Intermediate School and R.C. Waters Elementary—operating as a unified campus. With input from staff and administration, specific programming needs were addressed to create environments that give the students the best opportunity to learn.
The new spaces include 16 regular classrooms, storage and workspaces; expanded cafeteria space; a STEM classroom and a new gymnasium large enough to run multiple physical ed classes and to host middle school/high school athletic events or practices. The design includes a POD for each age group allowing for enhanced teacher-student collaboration. The community has been looking forward to this new building for over 10 years and is excited to see it come to fruition.
Adding grade levels to the building also meant more car and bus traffic, and the circulation patterns needed to be changed to accommodate students coming to and departing the site. We added a new bus lane and created an extended student drop-off point, which allowed for additional stacking space and a safer process for the campus.