Lake Wilderness Elementary School
FORMA led the GC/CM occupied replacement of LWES, the largest elementary school in Washington, originally built in 1959.
Partnering with the Tahoma School District and TCF Architecture, our GC/CM team developed cost option studies, analyzed programming data and design schemes to arrive at the revised plan to build a replacement school instead of remodeling the old one–maximizing the District’s available budget, minimizing disruption to students and staff, and shaving a full year off the project schedule.
A long-standing local landmark with deep roots in the community, it was important to our team that the project be accessible to students, staff and neighbors, so FORMA led a proactive effort to provide ties to construction progress and opportunities for community engagement. From the 1,200+ student hard hats sourced for the major groundbreaking event in May 2016, to the project’s Instagram feed & social media updates; and a 15,000-piece scale model of the new school designed and built by FORMA out of LEGOs; we successfully worked to connect students, staff, and the community to the construction of the new Lake Wilderness Elementary School.
Citation Award – AIA Washington, 2018
