What does one do when a remodeling project excavates hidden treasures? Architecturally speaking, that’s what happened recently during renovations of Capitol Hill High School, 500 SW 36, by MA+ Architecture. The Oklahoma City-based firm was remodeling the educational institution’s historic auditorium.

“We were getting the Sheetrock out and found that years ago, some architectural sculpturing had been covered up,” says Paul Meyer, MA+ Architecture principal. “We took the Sheetrock out and disclosed a stage and plaster sculpturing.”

To determine its origin and decide next steps, the team brought MAPS officials and CHS alumni to the auditorium.

“The alumni remembered it, because most of them were there in the ’50s before it was covered up,” says Meyer.

Fortunately, MAPS officials appreciated the historical significance of the find and came up with the additional monies necessary to preserve those aspects of the auditorium.

LASTING LEGACY

Capitol Hill is a legacy school, built in 1928 as the primary school serving students in south OKC, so its remodeling is “long overdue,” according to Oklahoma City Public Schools board member and former educator Ron Millican.

“It was a cornerstone school until Southeast was built in 1950 and started taking graduation numbers from them,” Millican says. “We as a school system have let the facilities down to where they needed the face-lift. We’re bringing it back, and it’s marvelous. They deserve it.”

Said upgrades includes a new stadium, creating an eight-lane track to bring it up to standards; an all-purpose field; new bleachers; and a new press box.

“They’re trying to salvage most, if not all, of the wall that goes around the stadium since it, too, has historical value,” he says, noting it was a Works Progress Administration project in the 1930s, as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal.

Millican sees himself in the faces of the students who attend today.

“I grew up in Southeast Oklahoma City, and I can go by my old house. Those kids are the same as we were,” he says. “Their parents are common laborers, just like my dad was. They deserve a good facility and a good education.”

He says the pride the students feel in the remodel is palpable, and the renovated school will be good for the community as a whole.

ART + ENGINEERING

Whether it’s a remodel or a new facility, Meyer says the key to educational architecture is listening.

“We learn what the owner’s aspirations are and get all that down in written program,” Meyer says. “Whether it’s a church or school, within that program, you will see the design solution.”

Lightning bolt or methodical brainstorming? Meyer says it’s different each time.

“Sometimes, it is brainstorming, and sometimes, it’s a series of meetings, and sometimes it’s like Mustang High School,” he said, recalling a huge project that connected several different building and added more than 100,000 square feet. “I saw the solution instantly and it changed very little from that first inspiration. Sometimes, you look at it and say, ‘Wow! Where did that come from?’ Architecture is such a combination of engineering and art. I’m not sure which one to give the most weight to.”

Engineering will be a new focus for Capitol Hill High School, with the addition of an engineering academy in the next few years.

The seasoned educational architect says that while experience benefits each project, no two educational institutions approach a remodel in the same way.

“They all have different goals. There’s not a consensus on an established way to put together a school,” says Meyer. For example, one school might prefer administration to office together, while another school might have vice principals scattered throughout the complex.

MA+’s other distinguished educational architectural clients include Bishop McGuiness Catholic High School, Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford and the University of Oklahoma in Norman.