Currey Ingram Academy’s Upper School

Client

Currey Ingram Academy

Architect

Allard Ward Architects

Location

Brentwood, TN

Completion

2009

Size

47,000 Square Feet

Construction Cost

$10-20 million

“Issues such as Open Houses during the work week, teacher and student tours, fundraising events for donors and prospective donors, were all met with encouragement and excellent guidance.”

– Kathleen Rayburn, Head of School

Currey Ingram Academy is an independent, K-12 college preparatory school in Middle Tennessee for students with average to superior intelligence who have unique learning styles. Currey Ingram’s academic program had expanded to meet their mission statement by adding a High School, but there were no facilities to put the students or staff. Temporary “cottages” were brought onto campus to meet this need while funds were raised to construct a new high school building.

In order to minimize the impact on campus activities we identified an opportunity to construct a temporary access road which would not require the construction traffic to enter and exit the main campus driveway. This temporary access was then be converted to a secondary access point for the campus at the completion of construction.

To remove the Cottages, we not only had to coordinate the removal of the physical trailers, but we had to remove foundations, utilities and sidewalks right in the middle of the campus. The whole area was regraded, soil amendments were added and an irrigation system was installed to prepare for new turf. We also added pedestrian lighting around the quad.

Coordination with administrative staff was critical to minimize the impact to campus activities and schedules.
The construction, design team and schools administration evaluated multiple options to reduce cost without impacting design intent or program function for the building.

Limited Access The High School is positioned on the back side of the campus and there is only a single campus access point which meant all construction traffic had the possibility of crossing paths with students or staff.

Temporary Cottages The temporary cottages housed the students and staff as funding was raised and construction completed. The cottages had to be removed and the Quad Lawn restored at the completion of the High School.