Lawrence Free State High School
USD 497 - Lawrence Public SchoolsDesigned for 1,400 Students
Free State High School is designed for 1,400 students in grades 10 through 12. The 245,000 sq ft school accommodates a total of 85 teaching stations for general classrooms, music, art/photography, social studies, language, mathematics, theater/speech, special education, home economics, business, foreign language, media, library, computer science, journalism, food service, physical education/health, and administrative areas. The facility includes a 950 seat performing arts theater and two gymnasiums with combined seating for 2,500. Parking was provided for 1,000 cars.
The school was designed to accommodate future expansions. In 2007 we completed a 7,700 sq ft technology building addition to fill a gap in the curriculum which didn’t have any vocational-oriented, hands-on technology offerings. The new addition offers two classrooms and a large, flexible space adaptable to both traditional and “tool-box” type vocational curricula. The existing loading dock and service drive serve the addition well, and its location insulates the academic wing of the building from the potentially noisy activities of the vocational curriculum.
In addition to the school building, Treanor Architects designed the adjacent 50,000 square foot Indoor Aquatic Center, owned and operated by the City of Lawrence. The new aquatic center was designed to provide recreational swimming facility for residents and a teaching facility for students.