Horner & Shifrin selected for Poplar Bluff schools renovation

St. Louis, Mo. — Horner & Shifrin (H&S) was chosen to provide structural engineering services and civil and surveying design on several projects for the Poplar Bluff R1 School District in Poplar Bluff, Mo. Working alongside Ittner Architects and Dille & Traxel Architects, H&S will design a new, cutting-edge high school campus, while retrofitting the previous campus for use as a 4-6 grade center.

A $55-million bond issue was passed by area voters on April 8 to provide funding for the school renovations. Construction on both the high school and grade school campuses will commence in the summer of 2016, to be completed by the beginning of the fall semester.

Improvements to the 4-6 grade center will include new playgrounds and student drop-off and pickup sites. Renovations to existing facilities will include updating hallways and entrances to be more comfortable and secure for the students.

Along with a new football stadium, eight-lane track, tennis courts and baseball/softball fields, plans for the high school also include construction of an adjacent two-story building with spaces custom-built to accommodate the subjects being taught. H&S project manager Robert C. Summers, P.E., says this is a new approach to school building design. “In the past, design was centered on creating a functional building only. Today it includes so much more. Rooms are integrated into an environment that helps our children learn more easily.”

The project has special significance to Summers, a Poplar Bluff resident with two children, one of whom currently attends elementary school in the district. “Both of my children will be able to attend state-of-the-art buildings that will provide opportunities that I never had,” he says. “This truly is the future of Poplar Bluff.”