Colorado Real Estate Journal - November 4, 2015
City officials, Denver Board of Education members and administrators, students and a contingent of the Shoemaker family recently celebrated the official opening of the new Joe Shoemaker Elementary School. The school opened to students in August. AndersonMasonDale Architects designed the Denver Public Schools facility, which features an abundance of natural light thanks to the numerous windows as part of the design. GH Phipps Construction Cos. was the contractor on the 80,000-square-foot building, formerly known as Hampden Heights ECE-5 School, at 3333 S. Havana St. The elementary school is designed in a series of pods, classrooms clustered so that programs for early childhood education students and elementary school-age students are separated by a gymnasium, as well as by courtyards for play and learning. The school was funded by Denver voters through the 2012 bond. The school site includes a bike path heading downtown and a section of Cherry Creek, with an amphitheater constructed near a bio-retention pond that serves 52 acres of land in the area. Extensive site work was needed to address the creek and open space. The school’s configuration allows the library and gymnasium to be used for community events. The $19.7 million school will follow an Expeditionary School program, where learning takes place outside the classroom including in the adjacent open space as well as within. The building also includes a library, offices, a music room that backs up to a performance platform and cafeteria, and parking lot. A roof deck will allow students to work on a roof garden, and several learning spaces are available for flexibility as the school grows. Future expansion can occur to the south. “This is an extraordinary facility built for extraordinary students,” said DPS Superintendent Tom Boasberg.