North Ridgeville City School District
Construction Project
The North Ridgeville City School District embarked on a construction project to replace their high school. This was made possible by a successful bond passage in late 2023.
North Ridgeville City Schools, in partnership with ThenDesign Architecture and Hammond Construction, hosted an engaging Community Night last week to present the designs and timeline for the district’s highly anticipated new high school and maintenance/transportation facility.
The new high school, which will span an impressive 340,000 square feet, is more than double the size of the current building, signaling a bold new chapter for the district's educational future.
The project includes:
A new, over 340,000 SF high school on the existing high school site.
An attached auditorium for arts programming
A new transportation and maintenance facility to service buses and vehicles in the district.
News & Updates:
North Ridgeville City Schools, in partnership with ThenDesign Architecture and Hammond Construction, hosted an engaging Community Night last week to present the designs and timeline for the district’s highly anticipated new high school and maintenance/transportation facility.
The new high school, which will span an impressive 340,000 square feet, is more than double the size of the current building, signaling a bold new chapter for the district's educational future.
Over the summer exciting progress has been made on designs for the new North Ridgeville High School and transportation center. During the last 3 months, the design team has refined all the input gathered from NRCS staff, and completed the first set of schematic design documents. These drawings are a preliminary pass at the new school’s layout. While there is still time left in the design process, these documents provide enough detail for the team to analyze the building from a cost estimate and construction timeframe standpoint, determining whether adjustments need to be made to keep the project on track.
Throughout April and May, the design team has been meeting weekly to develop plans for the new high school and transportation center. Currently, the new high school is in the schematic design phase. During this time, designers gather ideas from the district administration school staff, and students as they draft initial floor plans for the building. As the plans become more detailed, preliminary elevations are created that include ideas for colors and materials on the building’s exterior. This incorporates the information gathered from the community through the recent Visual Preference Exercise. This phase's goal is to better understand the overall layout, massing, and scope of the new school.
North Ridgeville CSD - Visual Preference Report.pdfA visual preference survey was launched online with North Ridgeville City Schools to gather input from members of the community regarding the exterior design of the new 9-12 high school.
The survey launched April 10th, 2024 for a period of 23 days and was distributed through the district’s school newsletter, during a community event, through hardcopy flyers, as well as on the district website and through their social media to encourage participation. There were 1,508 total respondents.
Participants were presented with a series of 10 image pairings that reflected examples of aesthetic styles, window types, materials, textures, colors, and other design elements to choose from. Participants were asked to indicate their preference for each of the two image pairings by selecting the preferred option and answering an open-ended question as to why they chose this.
On Wednesday, April 10, ThenDesign Architecture hosted a Meet the Architect event at the North Ridgeville Academic Center. About 75 community members attended to meet the design team for the construction project, ask questions, and provide feedback on exterior preferences.
A visual preference activity was presented for attendees to complete. Several boards with different aesthetic designs were displayed and guests selected their preferences by placing stickers on those boards.
On February 20th, students, community members, district administrators, city officials, and teachers attended an all-day Educational Visioning Session hosted by ThenDesign Architecture at North Ridgeville’s Academic Center. This session focused on group collaboration as attendees brainstormed how the district's new high school would improve every student’s educational experience for generations to come.
As the day commenced, Superintendent Roxann Ramsey-Caserio welcomed everyone, “This is a huge representation of the North Ridgeville community, and I am grateful you took the time to be here today.”
Guests participated in activities designed to garner input on the new school. “You will truly help shape the future of North Ridgeville. We are building a new high school, and the ideas you develop today will be the roadmap to make this a reality.”
North Ridgeville City Schools and North Ridgeville City held their third “State of North Ridgeville Address” on March 21st at the North Ridgeville Academic Center. Attended by over 150 long-time residents, teachers, students and city officials, this address covered the major developments in the North Ridgeville community. This joint presentation between the city and schools recaps the significant milestones from 2023 and paints a vision of the future of the community.
This presentation focused on “Inspiring Excellence and Building Community,” it touched on key concepts of “success, confidence, community, pride and the future.” Superintendent Roxann Ramsey-Caserio and Mayor Kevin Corcoran both jointly presented.
The Ongoing Design Process:
The district has been meeting weekly with architects and designers from ThenDesign Architecture to begin developing plans for the new school. This includes reviewing the needs of district staff and gathering their input on future needs for the space.
Initial steps include developing a "Program of Requirements," or document that details all the necessary spaces in the new high school and gathering feedback from the staff on their needs.
Throughout the design process, there will be many opportunities to provide input on the new school.
Engaging with School District Staff and the Community
On January 16th, design team members met with the staff of the North Ridgeville High School to introduce themselves and provide an overview of the project. This kicks off the beginning of the design process.
At the end of February and during March, architects will meet with district staff by department to determine their needs and fold them into the overall plans for the new school.
Upcoming meetings will be planned as design gets underway with more chances for the community to have input on the design.
How did we get here?
In 2012, a facility committee, composed of long-time community members, educators, business owners and city officials examined enrollment projections from the state and independent sources, residential growth patterns, and survey data to understand the needs of the school district and what the broader community wanted to support. They adopted a master plan that the district has been pursuing for the last 10 years. The first phase of this plan was completed in 2017, when the 3-8 Academic Center opened. Now, the district seeks to complete the next phase of this plan by addressing the high school.
It was clear from a survey of over 2,200 residents and hundreds of individual conversations, that the community felt that an expanded high school would be the best long-term investment to impact the future of North Ridgeville City School students.