Needham PBBC advances Howard School/Pollard planning, approves hydrant-flow test change order

Needham's Permanent Public Building Committee on July 21 received detailed design guidance for the Howard School/Pollard innovation program, including a grade-organization diagram, auditorium sizing options and space planning for science, engineering and performing-arts programs, and voted to authorize a hydrant-flow test change order for $3,784 to update fire-water capacity data.

Committee members and the project team said the schematic work is intended to balance school educational requirements with community uses such as a performing-arts auditorium and gymnasium, and to produce a high-level cost estimate in August ahead of a Preliminary Design Program (PDP) submission to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA).

Designers from HMFH Architects presented a conceptual organization for a sixth-through-eighth grade school built around a central common area (dining/media center) with separate but connected grade neighborhoods and a ring of shared exploratory spaces for art, engineering, TV/production and music. HMFH said the design intent is to keep sixth-grade teams somewhat distinct while locating science labs, project areas and support spaces so they serve multiple…