The Hub
Manchester Memorial Elementary School
Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA
The “Hub”
Strategically located at the intersection of adjoining program elements, the “Hub” serves as a celebratory gathering space for the students and the community.
Outdoor Space and Sustainability
One of the District’s goals was to incorporate the existing natural landscape into the design, including maximizing the open space and vegetated areas. Harnessing the power of what existed helped to improve the overall student experience and protect the natural habitat.
Leadership In Value Engineering
In the face of a significant budget overrun, D+W assumed a leadership role in getting the project back on budget employing a variety of strategies. Our team developed and contributed 95 value engineering (VE) and cost saving ideas; organized and provided estimated savings for 127 cost saving ideas; utilized a custom-designed spreadsheet that allowed for real time ranking of each VE item; led and facilitated the VE task force meetings to develop the final set of VE recommendations; and facilitated detailed discussion, review, and approval of value engineering ideas with the School Building Committee. The SBC and project team ultimately selected 87 ideas representing $9.1M in cost savings. Most importantly, the Owner emerged from the process with no sense of loss or sacrifice – the building still met all of their program needs and retained the architectural, aesthetic, functional, and durability features that were important to the team.
