A new high school in Tolleson Union High School District is attracting attention not only for its innovative design but its security.
West Point High School marks the first time in his 25-year designing and planning buildings that Ben Barcon has focused so much on security. There’s the six-foot-tall wrought-iron fence that surrounds the 69-acre campus at Avondale and Encanto boulevards in Avondale and fencing between all four buildings that require card key access.
“In addition to that, every exterior door has the capability of being locked or unlocked, depending on the circumstance from a remote controller,” Barcon said.
His firm, Tempe-based ADM Group Inc., designed the campus to funnel visitors to one entrance with a school resource officer stationed nearby and incorporated a lot of windows with reflective coating.
“Let’s just say that we’re in a lockdown situation and there’s a bad person in the courtyard, in the campus,” Barcon said. “If you’re in a classroom you can look out and you can see that person but he wouldn’t be able to see you standing at the window in the classroom.”
West Point High School opened July 31 to freshman and sophomores and will eventually serve 3,000 students. The $108 million project is being done in two phases with the second construction phase to include varsity sports fields, a science wing and performing arts center to be finished in the spring of 2020.
Architects used input from students as plans were drawn up. The cafeteria looks less like a dining hall and more like a university’s memorial hall with booths, high top tables, and counters where students can study and plug in laptops and phones. The outdoor quad also has standing outlets to charge electronic devices.
