Elkhart Memorial Campus Master Plan

As part of a reorganization objective, Elkhart Community School (ECS) officials planned to merge Central High School and Memorial High School into a single campus. Grades 10 through 12 would be located at the Memorial High School Campus, while grade 9 would be located at the Central High School campus. These changes created growth in enrollment at the Elkhart Memorial High School site, which ultimately changed the needs of the campus.

JPR worked alongside ECS to identify the challenges and opportunities of the existing site. Through discussions, JPR learned their desired outcomes for the site and potential areas of improvement were also identified and explored. The proposed improvements enhanced the character of the campus while tailoring the site to function for faculty, students, and visitors of the high school, Elkhart Area Career Center and School of Engineering, Technology and Innovation, and Mittler Advanced Manufacturing Center – which are all housed on the school campus.

With the increased enrollment it was critical to promote safe conditions for everyone by improving circulation across the campus. This increase doubled the number of buses required to serve the needs of students, and student parking spaces increased by approximately 50%.

JPR worked closely with ECS to develop multiple Campus Master Plans to evaluate potential layout alternates. The overall goal of each design was to accommodate the school’s needs while developing pedestrian and vehicular circulation patterns that limited conflicts between the different types of traffic. Each Master Plan investigated different approaches to the patterns of pedestrian and vehicular traffic flows, which included bus, student drivers, parent drop-off and pick-up, faculty, and visitor. They also analyzed how these patterns interacted with building entrances and the different activities within the campus buildings.

After refining the layouts and selecting the overall design solution, JPR completed a final conceptual design and developed construction documents in a timely fashion allowing the School District to bid and construct the proposed improvements prior to the beginning of the school year.

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