The task of designing the Garfield remodel, scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2008 (in time for next year’s class of freshmen to attend during their senior year), reached a landmark last week with the presentation of a tentative floor plan and approximate square footages of everything from bathrooms to book closets.

The Design Committee, in biweekly after school meetings, will now begin to refine the plan, which as it stands is about 40,000 square feet over what the $72 million budget can accommodate. Open to anyone who is interested, the group has toured newly remodeled buildings such as Olympia, West Seattle and Edmonds-Woodway High Schools, bringing exciting new design ideas to the table.

Such features include two large, round spaces each with 100 seats adjoining the main auditorium that can serve either as balcony seating or, when rotated out, as a lecture hall and small theater. There will be a large atrium/commons area complete with food services, possibly including an espresso bar and café. To name just a few other additions, the art department will gain a 1,200 square feet 3-D art studio, the music department will get the same amount of space for a new keyboard lab, and 4,600 square feet have been allocated for an onsite auto shop.

Though the building will certainly be radically different, there are some elements which Garfield alumni will find comfortingly familiar. The front entrance, main stairwells, upper gym, counseling office, and a few choice murals are to be preserved for their historical value, and the exterior will remain in its original brick.

In terms of general layout, the new school is being designed to accommodate Garfield’s proposed reorganization into smaller learning environments. The academic area will be built around four separate wings, not including the Performing Arts complex and two gymnasiums. However, maintaining flexibility is a high priority of the architects, especially when plans for Garfield’s academic reorganization have not fully taken shape.

“I can’t really think of any plan that would not fit in with what we are currently planning,” said art teacher Bonnie Hungate– Hawk, who has been involved in the process since its inception last spring.

However, not everything currently in the plan will make it into the finished product. The total square footage estimate is now running at 280,224 square feet, significantly more than the 240,000 mandated under the 1998 School Funding Levy. This is due in part to extras like band uniform and choir robe storage rooms, which, as senior Ben White pointed out, would be unnecessary considering that the Marching Band does not wear uniforms and the choir does not have robes.

Still, 240,000 represents an increase over Garfield’s current size of 220,000 square feet. But would this new space be used to accommodate the school’s current and projected overflow of students? District instructions say no: Garfield’s enrollment will be capped at 1,600 students, and hiring additional teachers is not under consideration. Design team members, however, are skeptical of the district’s ability to fulfill this promise, and say they will try to build in buffer components to handle something like Garfield’s current student population.

Despite the challenges ahead, Hungate– Hawk remains enthusiastic. “I don’t think there is a reason not to be really, really excited and optimistic about what this is going to be for Garfield,” she said.