Kodiak High School

Design Problem

Kodiak Island's only high school hadn't been significantly updated since the 1980s — and it showed. The facility needed to be reimagined for the way students learn today, expanded to meet growing needs, and built to withstand the island's punishing weather and seismic activity. Vocational training spaces — used by over 70% of the student body — were scattered and disconnected from the rest of the school. And the project had an opportunity to do more than serve the school: to strengthen the growing Borough campus that already included a middle school, performing arts center, swim center, community library, and Borough offices.

Bring Kodiak Island's only high school and vocational education center into the 21st century.

• Modernize a facility untouched since the 1980s
• Add classroom, science lab, library, gathering, and administration spaces
• Bring vocational training into the heart of the school
• Provide infrastructure for remote learning to villages across the island
• Build to withstand 130 MPH winds, corrosive sea air, and frequent freeze-thaw cycles
• Design as a community shelter for earthquakes and storms
• Contribute to the growing Borough campus

Design Approach

The design began where it should — with the people who would use it. Two week-long visioning sessions on-site with the client, staff, and students produced the idea that would define the project: a tower on the hill.

New classrooms, science labs, a library, and gathering spaces were organized into a four-story tower addition — rising above the neighborhood, reducing the building's footprint, and opening up views across Kodiak that the old school never had. The remaining spaces were fully renovated and reconnected through new gathering and circulation spaces that tied the building together for the first time.

The library, cafeteria, and main circulation space were placed on the second floor to take full advantage of the views. Openings and cascading stairs connect down to the entry level, drawing the building together vertically. The circulation core also opens directly to the vocational training facilities — bringing them from the margins to the heart of student life. The gym bleachers load directly from the main circulation level, making the space as practical for community events as it is for school ones.

Results

The exterior reflects where the building stands. Materials drawn from Kodiak's world-famous fishing and crabbing industry — weathered hardwood, gray metal siding, wire mesh screens, and bright yellow accents in the school colors — give the building a character that is entirely its own. Designed to withstand 130 MPH hurricane-force gusts, corrosive sea air, and frequent freeze-thaw cycles, the exterior is as tough and resilient as the community it serves — and just as beautiful.

The tower on the hill is now visible from many parts of town — a beacon for the Borough campus and the community gathered around it. Vocational programs, once on the periphery, are now central to student life and have seen growing enrollment. The building serves as a community shelter for earthquakes and storms, a reminder that a school can be more than a school.

Recogniztion

The firm developed the project concept, building organization, and exterior shell in partnership with DLR Group of Seattle, who led the interior design.

• Pinnacle Award - A4LE Pacific Northwest Chapter, 2019
• Len Mackler Award - A4LE Alaska Chapter, 2018
• Honor Award - AIA Alaska, 2018
• Citation of Excellence - Learning by Design, Spring 2018
• Most Beautiful Public High School in Every State - Architectural Digest, September 2017

Architect: Aaron MacDonald while Lead Designer, Jenson Yorba Lott

General Contractor: Watterson Construction

Photographer: Ken Graham Photography