Oakdale Joint Unified School District, Oakdale, Calif.
Retrofit Team
Construction Management: Oakdale Joint Unified School District
Dan Casey, director of Maintenance and Operations
Architect: Pratt Architecture, Modesto, Calif.
Alisa Cota
Interior Design: Lionakis, Sacramento, Calif.
Bianca Dyke
General Contractor: ACME Construction Co. Inc., Modesto
Mike Mastagni
Materials
The following materials were used in Fair Oaks and Cloverland elementary schools’ library/media centers:
Lighting: Finelite (recessed linear lighting); Molto Luce (pendant lighting at Fair Oaks); Philips Lightolier (can lighting in soffits); and Visa Lighting (pendant lighting at Cloverland)
Carpet Tile: Mohawk
Paint: PPG
Fiber-reinforced Laminate Wall Panels: Nevamar, Panolam Surface Systems
Tackable Wall Panels: Anchorage (Cloverland) and FR701 (Fair Oaks), both from Guilford of Maine
Acoustic Ceiling: Ultima Create!, Wood Looks, bamboo veneer finish from Armstrong Ceiling & Wall Solutions
Plastic Laminate: Pionite, Panolam Surface Systems, and Wilsonart
The Retrofit
After building new cafeterias at Fair Oaks Elementary and Cloverland Elementary, the schools were left with unused multipurpose rooms. The space at Fair Oaks was 3,600 square feet while Cloverland’s room was 2,800 square feet. School district representatives opted to convert these rooms into library/media centers.
“Because we are a pretty rural agricultural community, the color scheme was based on nature with Fair Oaks representing the sky with blues and purples and yellow for the sun. Cloverland was Earth-based with multiple green tints,” explains Dan Casey, director of Maintenance and Operations for the school district.
Susan Dyke, the district’s chief business officer, worked with Lionakis to find playful but useful furniture for the spaces. For example, ottomans are on wheels and both schools’ library/media centers feature amphitheater seating. “The first day the library opened, the amphitheater seating was like a magnet to the students,” Casey recalls. “They quickly grabbed a book and went and laid down or sat on the seating.” Making the walls graphically interesting and creating curved soffits also adds to the environment.
Both library/media centers were completed in only 66 days.
Photos: Oakdale Joint Unified School District