Background
The 60,500 square foot Calvary Chapel campus encompasses an elementary and intermediate school, a gymnasium and a multi-purpose playing field along with a sanctuary, daycare center and office administration. Construction mainly consists of two-story buildings with curved roofs constructed of steel beams and bowstring joists.

Specialized Knowledge
The project incorporated many design challenges including a formidable array of basement walls, retaining walls, cantilever slabs and stepped footings due to the severely sloped grading of this property. Split-level basements and large openings created challenges using concrete masonry. Architectural features such as curved roofs and eaves, recessed floors, sloped finishes and a 4' CMU coursing stripe on all the buildings necessitated imaginative engineering and atypical detailing.

Client Benefits
The client required a durable and cost-effective building. By incorporating CMU as the primary load bearing wall system, the perimeter of the building and many of its partitions would meet the required durability. The use of a mix of different block types, colors and textures allowed the block to also be used as the architectural expression of the campus, reducing the cost finishes while creating a visually consistent and attractive campus.