School Committee selects dual-firm design partnership

By Kim Bodnar, SBC member

The School Committee voted last week to approve the School Building Committee’s recommendation to enter into negotiations with Symmes, Maini and McKee Associates (SMMA) of Cambridge, which has entered into a collaborative partnership with EwingCole for the purposes of designing a Lincoln School project.

SMMA has extensive knowledge of the Ballfield Road campus, having completed a conditions analysis of the Lincoln School and Hartwell buildings in 2006-07. For this project, the firm is teaming up with Philadelphia-based EwingCole, which designed the new Hanscom Middle School (which opened in April 2016) and the new Hanscom Primary School (currently under construction). The start of SMMA/EwingCole’s work on the Lincoln School project is subject to the successful negotiation of a contract.

The interview and selection process for the five finalists took many hours over two evenings. The School Building Committee (SBC) thanks all the community members who attended the sessions and provided invaluable input. Their involvement in the process and candid feedback was greatly appreciated.

Earlier this summer, the SBC asked residents to complete a survey entitled “Shaping our Town’s Evaluation Criteria” and received 364 responses. Below is a summary of those responses.

1.  “We should maintain the current L-shaped footprint of school.”

• 64% neutral, 15% disagree/strongly disagree, 12% agree,  9% strongly agree

2.  “We should take a blank-slate approach to the design.”

• 33% strongly agree, 32% agree, 20% neutral, 15% disagree/strongly disagree

3.  “We should consider all new construction.”

• 33% agree, 26% strongly agree, 21% neutral, 20% disagree/strongly disagree

4.  “The primary focus of the project is a design that focuses on our educational vision.”

• 48% strongly agree, 35% agree, 12% neutral, 5% disagree/strongly disagree

5.  “The primary focus of the project is to make repairs and meet code.”

• 27% disagree, 23% strongly disagree, 19% agree, 16% neutral, 15% strongly agree

6.  “The project should reach high energy efficiency standards.”

• 42% agree, 39% strongly agree, 13% neutral, 6% disagree/strongly disagree

7.  “Adding additional recreation fields is important.”

• 38% neutral, 33% agree, 15% strongly agree, 10% disagree, 4% strongly disagree

8.  “Building safety and security are a primary consideration.”

• 41% agree, 26% neutral, 25% strongly agree, 8% disagree/strongly disagree

9.  “We need to minimize construction time.”

• 42% neutral, 27% agree, 15% disagree, 12% strongly agree, 4% strongly disagree

When respondents were asked to rank the criteria mentioned in Questions 1-9 in order of importance, educational vision was #1, energy efficiency was #2, and building safety and security was #3.

The next School Building Committee will be held on Wednesday, Aug. 30 at 7 p.m. in the Hartwell multipurpose room (click heree for the agenda). All are welcome to attend. Anyone with questions or comments may email sbc@lincnet.org.