Fact Sheet

News

Board of Directors

Partnerships

School Projects

Schools : School Projects

Evie Garrett Dennis Campus

Project | Design & Construction Updates | Events & Outreach | Education Partners | FAQs

Design & Construction Updates

The result of the collaborative eco-charrette was a plethora of creative, unique and constructible ideas. The highly successful brainstorming sessions set forth design goals for the new Green Valley Ranch school as follows:

1. Educational Flexibility & Adaptability—Create an engaging learning environment with relationships at the center and flexibility for different learning configurations and age groups.

2. Sustainability—Inspire future green global citizens to a high level of environmental awareness while utilizing the campus as a high-performance, sustainable teaching tool.

3. Technology—Create a virtual campus with 100 percent wireless connectivity and the goal of a laptop computer for every student.

4. Health & Wellness—Promote fitness, lifelong wellness and security through transparency and openness.

Meeting these goals led to an “intentional design” process, meaning that rather than designing a typical school building, the new Green Valley Ranch school is designed and built to exactly match the specific needs of DPS, the teaching staff, the students and the community.

• Be a part of the Legacy at the Dr. Evie Garrett Dennis Campus in Green Valley Ranch. Show your lasting commitment to the new DPS campus and Legacy Tower, one of many important symbols that will help shape this new world-class, 21st century learning center. As students graduate, each will place a personalized plaque on the tower celebrating their accomplishments and commitment to future graduates who will walk this unique campus.
  
  Legacy Tower Paver Campaign (PDF)
  
  
•  UPDATES:
  As of May 1, 2010, we are on track to complete construction for the fall opening. SOAR and DSST will move into their buildings the first week of August. We are looking forward to the Grand Opening Celebration August 12 - 14.
  
  Currently, we have 200+ people on site working to complete the interior finishes and to ensure all the systems are working properly. In addition to creating a great school building with colors and details unlike any other school building in the country, we are also creating a learning laboratory throughout the buildings so that students and the community can learn what makes the campus one of the most energy efficient in the world.
  
  The athletic fields will also be finished this summer.
  
  
• Any building impacts the environment by using energy, water and other raw materials and generating waste during construction, occupancy and eventually demolition. To minimize this impact at the Dennis Campus, the project team developed a plan for sustainability initiatives that will minimize operational costs and environmental impact throughout the life of school. It serves as a "demonstration project" to show how a sustainable building can be optimally designed, built and operated by blending high technology with green thinking. DPS will use this project to demonstrate how educational and technical specifications can come together in building a better school.
  
  See LEED document (PDF) for a further explanation.

NEW: See construction updates live via our webcam.

September, 2009

As we head into the fall, the new GVR E12 Shared Campus is rapidly moving forward on schedule. Critical milestones are upcoming in the next few weeks as erection of the tilt-up concrete panel walls will begin in early October. The buildings will really begin to take shape and the steel joists and decking will begin installation in early November.

The Design-Build Team, led by HC Development/Oakwood Homes and in conjunction with Saunders Construction and DLR Group Architects, set out early on to create a “World Class, High Performance Learning Center” on behalf of Denver Public Schools.

With the focus of this new campus being on creating a 21st century learning environment through Flexibility, Sustainability, Health and Wellness, and Emerging Technologies, the team has been able to surpass expectations as construction documents were completed in mid-September. The end result is a building that is seeking LEED certification from the US Green Building Council (USGBC), uses less than 1/3 of the energy of a typical High School, and is programmatically set up to be a learning environment of the technologically-advanced 21st Century.

June 25, 2009 Groundbreaking

On June 25, 2009, Green Valley Ranch celebrated the groundbreaking of the new E12 shared campus.  More than 200 people walked across the field to where the school entrance will be located and sat is the warm morning sun to help commemorate this very special day.  Speakers included Denver Public Schools (DPS) Superintendent, Tom Boasberg, DPS School Board members Teresa Pena and Kevin Patterson, City Councilman, Michael Hancock, and CEO of Oakwood Homes, Pat Hamill.  Student volunteers in grades ECE – 12, from all across far northeast Denver, helped turn the ceremonial first dirt and plant the first tree.  Activity at the site will increase significantly over the next several months as the campus prepares for a fall 2010 opening. 

Groundbreaking Photos

Phase 1 Facilities

Eco-Charrette, March 12-13, 2009

Char·rette (n.) [shuh-ret]: An intensive design process that involves the collaboration of all project stakeholders at the beginning of a project to develop a comprehensive plan or design.

A key component to designing and constructing a high performance school is involving all parties and stakeholders from the beginning of the design process, often referred to as integrative design. An excellent way to initiate this integrative approach is through a facilitated design workshop or “charrette.” A group of 44 building professionals, engineers, contractors, consultants, developers, educators, students, schools administrators, and facilities staff came together for 2 full days to finalize design direction and identify specific strategies for the Denver Public Schools Green Valley Ranch E12 Campus Project.

Here is the final report from the Eco-Charrette for your review. (pdf)

Acreage:
35

Academies:
Primary Academy (P-5), Intermediate Academy (6-8), Secondary Academy (9-12) serving approximately 1,200 students at full capacity

Public Space:
Student Union, approximately 65,000 square feet to include: gymnasium, (2) common areas, food court, library media center, health and wellness center, enrollment center, locker rooms, fitness center, student store, PTO kitchen and variety of meeting rooms

Athletics:
9-lane track for regional/state competitions, synthetic turf play field, baseball and softball fields, large gymnasium, mutli-purpose fields and playgrounds

Project Funding:
$47.2 million from 2008 General Obligation Bond approved by Denver voters in November 2008

Anticipated Opening:
August  2010

Contact Info: Amy Schwartz, Executive Director | 4908 Tower Road, Denver, CO 80249 | 303.486.8500