Mackenzie Shivers

Mia Boudreau
Gretta Stahl
Taylor Gretz
Austin Gray
Animas New Creation

Designing a new school building is an exciting opportunity, but it is more than just a short
story. It is a novel that must be written, with consideration of many details, facts, values, and
interests. An important first step is understanding the many user's values and incorporating
them into the design. Secondly, multiple prototypes need to be created to try out ideas and
produce an example to excite users. Lastly, there are many logistical and financial details that
need to be thought through.
The freshman class has taken on this challenge by using design thinking. We were each
separated into groups where we created teams. Our team is small, just the five of us we call
ourselves Introvert Enterprizes and we are Mackenzie, Mia, Gretta, Taylor, and Austin. As a
team we have been prototyping and thinking up multiple new and improved campus designs.
Through the process of design thinking we discovered our values as a team. We then took our
values and incorporated them into a problem statement, -- The values of comfort and
relationships need to be brought into consideration when designing the new building. We
continued to look to this idea with our design and we modeled our school accordingly. When
you look at our school design it is a book that is just being opened. Though we have created a
budget and several prototypes, we know there is still work to be done. Which includes the actual
construction and destination of the building.
In the first chapter of our design thinking process, we conducted multiple empathy
interviews. We interviewed current students and current teachers at Animas High School, as
well as prospective students, parents, and various other community members. We took this
opportunity to go deeper with our understanding of our users. We did this by interviewing
students with various personalities, interests, and abilities. For example introverts, extroverts,
artists, actresses, musicians, dyslexic, etc. When interviewing users we discovered similar
values between each of them. We found that many users value nature, light, and space. For
example Mackenzie interviewed one student who is very enthusiastic about acting. While
interviewing her it was very clear that she wanted a stage to be able to perform on, as well as
classrooms that are set up in a similar matter. Now we can incorporate a stage into our school.
But how do we know that all users will want this stage? So that is where you conduct more
interviews. And Mackenzie did end up finding that the importance of a stage is very high and
was mentioned in most of her interviews.
The many ideas from our interviews allowed the story of our design ideas to come to life,
helping us create a space that is comfortable, with natural lighting (windows) and open. We
brainstormed as a group through a sticky note protocol. This protocol allowed us to jot down
quick ideas for our new building design and gather similar ideas into groups. We were then able
to see what our values and complaints were. We then put together prototypes that we could
display for a gallery walk presentation. These gallery walks were helpful for us to see what we
still needed to touch on, what we hadnt thought about, or what we should keep. And our last
way of generating ideas, was during our all school exhibition where we explained our
prototypes, including a 3D model, and asked for additional feedback. We were then able to
make another draft to play with. As the days went on we were able to choose a design we liked
and go deeper into our story, working on the smaller elements in creating this space.
As we continued with our design thinking we started finding different pieces that inspired
us to create our design. In one of the activities, we had to explore a local building within our
community. We explored the Durango Public Library, the Durango Arts Center, a coffee shop,
and Durango High School. From visiting these spaces we observed how users interacted with
their surroundings. When taking a look at the library we noticed that the building was separated
into two buildings and then divided up to give a comfortable and quiet space for users that there
were plenty of options for workspaces, large windows, and very high ceilings. The library had a
calm atmosphere that was extremely beneficial when trying to get work done. These
observations can be really helpful because sometimes schools can have the same values as a
library. When visiting the Durango Arts Center we noticed the small space that forced others to
interact with each other, but also how uncomfortable everyone felt. We also felt the rush of
excitement and energy flowing throughout the stage as everyone got ready for their
performance. This rush is what we would like to bring into our school, which then brought us to
brainstorming more ideas. When we took a look at a coffee shop down town we noticed that the
furniture was set up in a way to help users talk in a private area, but at the same time feel
comfortable. Lastly at Durango High School we saw how much space there was. The amount of
space was perfect for the amount of students there were, but walking those hallways you could
get lost real easily. The plot twists and back to the drawing board we went with new ideas and
critiques gained from our exploration.
As we continued, we started researching all sorts of place for inspiration. It was
suggested we check out Google's headquarters. Here we found an amazing space that
incorporates comfort, design, and relationships, in a modernized way. There was big piece of
crazy furniture that spelled the word GOOGLE. There was a copious amount of glass and
color. We took this idea of glass, ran with it, letting the ideas flow off the page. When looking
back over our design we began picturing out a bridge that was enclosed with glass. We took this
route because we wanted a beautiful area you could look out at the world around, as well as be
able to get from one side of the building to the other in any weather condition. We kept building
off of these designs generating the the building you see in front of you today.
Not only do we have a building that incorporates the ideas of our users we have a
sustainable design component as well. When taking a look at Animas current electric bill, we
saw that the school uses on average 427,000 watts per day. The cost of this results in $30.81
per day. This is a high cost that adds up over the course of a year. Not only is it a good story
idea to add solar panels, it saves money too. Using averages from the electric bill and data that
shows Durango has, on average, 5.6 hours of full sunlight per day, we were able to calculate
how many panels we needed.
With a 250 watt solar panel, considering environmental factors that cause the panel to
loose 10-15% of power, the average panel output would be between 212.5 and 225 watts. With
these specific panels we then were able to figure out we need between 339 to 360 panels. Now
there are 7 hours in one school day, but you then have teachers that go earlier to school, or stay
later after school. So, when considering the matter of only using the solar panels for 5.6 hours
we could then get a battery bank that could store the extra power that wasnt used in that 5.6
hours. Then before and after school you still have power. Yes the cost of solar panels are
expensive to construct, but in the long run you will be getting the needed amount of watts per
day for a very low cost.

Animas High School is a project based school, and when you walk into the building you
want to feel like you are welcomed and work is going to be done. We hope the school we have
created for you will do this. It gives space for a large amount of students to be comfortable and
interested in the design. When you walk in, the building immediately opens up into a huge
space and in the center you have two big stair cases that swoop together only inviting you to
climb up them to see what is above. The two story building allows you to have electives down
on the lower level, and core classes up on the second level. This will help so that you know the
designated area to go for that period. We have also incorporated solar panels which will help
save the school money when it comes to the electric bill.
We hope this design has inspired you to explore more options for our next Animas High
School Building. We hope you will take our designs and run with it, thank you for reading these
few pages, and we hope you will run with it.