Waunakee's Heritage Elementary construction site serves as classroom

In a construction trailer at the new Heritage Elementary School building site last week, Waunakee High School engineering students sat around a long table, filling the small conference room.

Building drawings and schematics lined the walls and were projected onto a screen in front, as architects and engineers discussed the process of designing the new school during the students’ May 2 visit.

The Tribune sat in on a portion of the students’ visit to see how the building process could serve as instruction.

The new Heritage Elementary on Woodland Drive west of S. Century Avenue is due to open in the fall, but planning for it began years beforehand.

Early in the design process, input from teachers, students and staff help to inform the architects about how the facility will be used, said Chris Michaud of Eppstein Uhen Architects.

Michaud told the students that a project this size can take two years to design and build, but Waunakee district Superintendent Randy Guttenberg noted that first, cost estimates are needed for a referendum. The Waunakee community passed a referendum in 2022 to fund the project.

The next nine to 12 months are spent layering the building details in, Michaud said.

Key to the process is a strong rapport between the builder and the architect, said Rich Stoffels, project manager with Vogel Bros. Building Co.

As part of the design, the structural engineer looks at the plans to assess how to implement the structural frame. David Boldt, a structural engineer with the engineering firm raSmith, said he noticed large windows immediately in the design requiring accommodations for the building’s supports. Structural columns with frames are used to support most of the building, along with columns.

Boldt said when he views the structure, he sees three buildings with firewalls separating the three wings. Structurally, he recognizes each section as separate from the other, and if a fire were to destroy one, the others would be left standing, he said.

The engineering also takes into consideration the weight, or gravity load, for the second floor where students and staff will gather, along with the wind. In some cases, Boldt will talk to the architects about possible ways to redesign the building.

“I think this one is fairly smooth,” Boldt said about the process. “It’s been a fun project.”

Waunakee resident Roxanne Johnson, civil engineer with Professional Engineering, talked about her role, one that also involves getting the necessary approvals from the municipality.

As the district shared the building proposal, Waunakee Village Plan Commission members initially expressed concerns about cars queuing up on Woodland Drive, creating traffic back-ups, Johnson said, so she spent time designing a circulation plan to avoid that. Johnson also uses software to design areas for semi-truck turnarounds and to ensure the site has the required number of parking stalls, she said.

Stormwater management is another requirement, ensuring stormwater runoff from roofs and new roads do not affect the neighboring farm, she said. The site is required to capture all stormwater runoff in a 100-year storm event, meaning a storm with the heaviest rainfall in 100 years.

Johnson described using wet ponds and infiltration basins to collect stormwater and achieve the runoff goals. During the construction process, sediment traps and temporary basins collect silt, preventing it from flowing onto the roadways and into streams, she said.

The visit allowed the students to learn more about each of the different engineering disciplines so they can decide which they may want to pursue. Johnson noted in her field, federal regulations are constantly changing, so she must continue learning about those and compliance methods.