Photo by Brad Davis | The Republic A board showing ideas for the new west-side elementary school were shown during the meeting.
Four firms vying to be chosen to design the new Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. westside elementary school will showcase their work during two different sessions later this month. The presentations are free and open to the public.
The presentations will take place on March 25 and March 27 at Westside Community Church from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. is receiving help from the Cummins Foundation Architecture Program for the project which has recommended the following four firms:
- Howeler+Yoon, Boston
- Snow Kreilich, Minneapolis
- SO-IL, New York
- Studio Sumo, New York
A committee of about 15 people will use scoring metrics they have developed which will help them determine which firm to recommend to the school board, according to BCSC Director of Operations Brett Boezeman.
The Cummins Foundation Architecture Program will fund the firm’s design once one of the four are chosen, Boezeman said, and they will work alongside CSO Architects on the project.
BCSC school board members will officially approve the selection on April 15.
The firms will not be presenting designs for the school specifically, but will instead talk about past projects, team structure, and how they would incorporate Columbus’ “value systems” in the project, according to Boezeman.
“The reason for that is we didn’t feel as though it was fair to the firms to have them have to produce a product of what the school might look like with really little to no knowledge— (of) more than just a few weeks of kind of looking over Columbus and BCSC,” he said.
There will also be a place for the public to submit their thoughts on the firms digitally to help school officials make a determination.
Boezeman said he and CSO’s Principal Jim Funk met with each firm individually a couple of weeks ago “to talk about what’s important to BCSC and important to Columbus, give them the opportunity to ask some questions of us and that sort of thing.
Two firms will present each night. The schedule is as follows:
Monday, March 25:
- 4:00 – 4:15 Intro (BCSC)
- 4:15-5:15: SO-IL, New York
- 5:15-5:30: Break
- 5:30-6:30: Studio SUMO, New York
Wednesday, March 27:
- 4:00-4:15: Intro (BCSC)
- 4:15-5:15: Howeler+Yoon, Boston
- 5:15-5:30: Break
- 5:30-6:30: Snow-Kreilich, Minneapolis
BCSC will be working with an outside consultant to help determine future boundary lines for the new elementary and other schools in 2025 and 2026. During that time officials will also be gathering input to help decide on enrollment balancing strategies.
A tentative date for announcing the new boundary lines is set for December 2026 and the new school is scheduled to open in August of 2027.
