Committee Reviews Pacific Design
"Impressive. You have really captured the heart of the community!” A member of the Pacific Middle School Design Review Committee expressed the group’s excitement about the design for their new middle school.
Staff and community members reviewed the latest progress on the school design November 30, marking a significant milestone in the replacement project.
Hutteball + Oremus Architecture is now at 100 percent schematic design, which means the site plan and drawings are completed in this phase of the design process, for the new, three-story school in Des Moines.
Design Features
At the November design review committee meeting, architects and school community representatives reviewed building design features. The goal is a warm and welcoming, modern learning facility that includes seamless security layers to support the safety of our students, staff and community. Some design features include:
- A performance or flexible-use platform outside the band and choir rooms, overlooking the commons/food service area.
- Controlled entry access and entry vestibule.
- Controlled access to classrooms.
- Clearly designated pedestrian pathways.
- Separate bus and car driving loops.
Below is the site plan and some meeting photos.
Next Design Phase
Next comes a detailed cost estimation and value engineering process.
In the next design development phase, the materials and products will be selected, such as windows, doors, fixtures, appliances and other finish materials. Plumbing, electrical, heating/ventilation and other systems will be engineered to support the building drawings.
In the future, we will share architectural design renderings that show what the building will look like!
Timeline for Construction
Design, construction documents and permitting will continue through the spring of 2025.
Pacific staff are expected to move into the Olympic Interim Site during the summer of 2025, with demolition of the existing school to follow.
A new Pacific Middle School is planned to open on schedule for the 2027-28 school year.
Aerial View
This aerial view shows the future footprint of the new Pacific Middle School building compared to the existing school footprint and the locations of the adjacent schools — Midway Elementary School to the north, Mount Rainier High School to the northwest, and MRHS baseball and softball fields to the west.
Site Plan
This site plan shows the future Pacific Middle School footprint.The pink dashed lines indicate the existing school footprint. To the east will be a staff/visitor parking lot and the vehicle drop-off loop with separate entry and exit to South 227th Place. The bus loop enters and exits to 24th Avenue South, with angled bus parking slots and additional staff parking. A hard surface play area is planned for north of the new building, west of the bus loop. A soccer field is proposed west of the new building.
Meeting Photos
Members of the Pacific Middle School Design Review Committee discuss floor plans and building layout with architects, project managers and staff from our capital planning & construction team.