Boundless Expression…On Cue. In Rhythm. Well Spoken. » The Building

CWA receives 99th alumni gift for Language and Performing Arts Center

Althea Cawley-Murphree — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 18:53:51 +0000

Charles Wright Academy is about to reach a major milestone in the Boundless Expression campaign to build a new Language and Performing Arts Center. Yesterday the school received the 99th alumni gift which came from Patrick Philley, a 2008 graduate, which means that the very next alum to give will be donor #100. Both the capital campaign and construction are progressing right on schedule.

Construction Update
Construction continues on schedule for completion by June 2009 with the grand opening scheduled for September 2009. The performing arts classrooms and black-box studio on the upper level of the building are nearly all framed in. This area is now under cover and construction crews will be working throughout the winter inside this dry and (somewhat) warm space.

Steel components for the hallway and base flooring for the performing arts classrooms on the lower floor began arriving this morning. As the steel is installed, the front of the building will begin to take shape. By the end of December, students, faculty, parents and visitors to campus will have a very good sense of what the building will look like in its final form.

Campaign Update
Faculty members were among the first to step forward this fall and make pledges to the capital campaign. In the Lower and Middle Schools, 100% of the school’s teachers have made a pledge. In the Upper School, 93% have made a gift.

Many parents are getting on board too. Their participation levels are currently: Lower School 49%, Middle School 37%, and Upper School 38%.

The very first gift to the capital campaign was a pledge from the Parent Association and the group took one step closer to delivering on that pledge last month when they raised more than $58,000 at the Wright Stuff rummage sale.

Teachers and parents have also been extremely generous in their gifts to the Annual Fund this year. In the Lower School, 91% of teachers and 61% of parents have made gifts. In the Middle School, 100% of faculty and 49% of families have donated to the Annual Fund. In the Upper School, 95% of teachers and 50% of parents have given.

Click here to make your gift online.

West Wing comes tumbling down

Althea Cawley-Murphree — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:46:09 +0000

The West Wing of Charles Wright’s Upper School came tumbling down yesterday. Construction crews sliced through the building, right across the room most recently used as the English department’s office. To the west of that cut, they demolished in just a few hours the four smallest classrooms on campus and three tiny offices. The choir director’s office, English chair’s office, and study hall/music room/theater will saved, although their uses will change once construction of the new Language and Performing Arts Center is complete.

If you’re in the area, you’re welcome to stop by and watch the construction work in progress. Just be sure to stay behind the fence! Click here to watch a short video of demolition.

Rushforth Construction sets up camp at CWA

Althea Cawley-Murphree — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 19:54:06 +0000

Tacoma-based Rushforth Construction set up camp at Charles Wright this week. The firm built CWA’s Lower School and now they’re starting work on the new Language and Performing Arts Center. Work is well underway as crews prepare for demolition of the West Wing on June 27. The most notable changes on campus so far are the disappearance of the old drama shack, installation of the construction office trailer, and arrival of a giant dumpster and a tall fence encircling the site.

Charles Wright staff removed the portable that housed the drama department two weeks ago. They’re now stripping the West Wing of everything that can be salvaged. The old study hall-turned music room and theater will be saved from the wrecking ball. So will three offices. In total, four classrooms and three small faculty offices will be demolished.

A lot of work is going on behind the scenes too. Construction crews were delighted to find that the “as-built” plans for the Upper School are actually true to the location and dimensions of the building. They tell us that’s often not the case. They’ve also located the sewer line that was laid to the site many years ago in anticipation of this building. It’s never been used but it still fits with the plans for the new Language and Performing Arts Center.

We’ll be posting pictures on this blog over the next 15 months so you can watch our progress. Here’s what it looks like this week at Charles Wright.

CWA celebrates groundbreaking for new building

Althea Cawley-Murphree — Tue, 20 May 2008 17:08:52 +0000

Students and teachers at Charles Wright celebrated groundbreaking for the new Language and Performing Arts Center yesterday in a very big way, complete with dancing monsters and an excavator.

The annual Founder’s Day assembly was held on the Upper School lawn. The band Extreme Unction, starring Chaplain Mike Moffitt, Upper School science teacher Dan Wicklund, Upper School English and history teacher Sue Tjardes, and student Alex King ’09, warmed up the crowd.

Upper School Head Bill White took the opportunity to lodge an “official complaint” about conditions in the old West Wing. “It’s so scary in there, I just know there are monsters hiding in the West Wing,” White told the crowd of more than 700.

No sooner had White issued this dire prediction, than a dozen “monsters” descended from the West Wing to lead the crowd in the dance from Thriller.

White promptly declared: “That’s it! I can’t take it anymore! I will not be the head of a school completely overcome by monsters! We’ve got to knock down the West Wing and build a new building.”

The English, foreign language and performing arts faculty were quit to propose a theater, music rooms, and new classrooms. “That’s great!” cried White. “A new language and performing arts center is just what we need!” With that, a banner was lowered over the portable that houses the drama department picturing the new building.

Attention quickly turned to the urgent problem of digging out the hillside to make room for the new building. Lower School Head Diane Hunt proposed using a big spoon. Middle School Head Brynn Starr brought a garden trowel.

Upper School receptionist Phyllis Kriese offered to dig the whole hillside out with her shovel, but White vetoed all these ideas.

Finally, White called on Headmaster Rob Camner who used his whistle to call out an excavator with a big golden bucket. Facilities Manager Denny Dorum was at the helm and he took a big chuck of dirt out of the hillside while students and teachers cheered.

The Founder’s Day groundbreaking event concluded with a picnic lunch for the entire community prepared by Food Service Manager Sheila Clemans and her staff.

Demolition of the old West Wing, excavation of the hillside and construction of the new Language and Performing Arts Center will begin right after graduation in June. All next year, faculty and students will share offices, classrooms and parking to make way for construction. The new building will open in the fall of 2009.

More pictures and a video of the event will be available soon! Stayed tuned….

Your turn to fly around the new building

Althea Cawley-Murphree — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 18:08:01 +0000

BCRA, the Tacoma-based architecture firm that designed the Lower School a few years ago, is now designing the new Language and Performing Arts Center for Charles Wright. The architects have produced an animated study model of the building. It’s your first chance to fly around the building and get a real feel for how this project will transform the campus. Click here to watch the video online in high quality or low quality.

Floorplans revealed for new building

Althea Cawley-Murphree — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 22:39:32 +0000

BCRA, the Tacoma architecture firm that designed Charles Wright’s Lower School, is working on the new Language and Performing Arts Center too. In consultation with CWA administrators and the faculty members who will teach in the new building, they’ve prepared these floorplans. In the coming weeks we’ll explain in much greater detail how each of these spaces will support our drama, music, and language programs.

CWA’s new Language and Performing Arts Center

Althea Cawley-Murphree — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 23:37:25 +0000

Today our campus provides facilities that beautifully support the work of our teachers, coaches and students in almost every way. We have tools to inspire and challenge students in almost every discipline, except the language and performing arts. Here, our facilities greatly limit what can be taught and what can be learned, and teachers often design their courses around the space they have rather than the students they teach.

The new Language and Performing Arts Center will complete the Charles Wright campus. In this new space, what we teach and how we teach it won’t change, but the opportunities for students to use their new-found skills will change dramatically.

In the coming weeks, we’ll use this blog to examine the form and function of each space in this new building and show you the detailed floor plans, but here are the highlights:

• An auditorium with a flexible 30ft x 40 ft stage and seating configurations to accommodate innumerable performance types for audiences of 50-400
• A foyer with vaulted wood ceiling and gathering space for 200-300 people
• Rehearsal room for 50 students studying MS and US choral music
• Rehearsal room for 40 students studying MS and US band and orchestra
• A music library, practice rooms for students, and offices for faculty
• A classroom/greenroom for the drama program, dressing rooms, a production shop and office space for the instructor
• Eight classrooms for 18 students to house all English and foreign language classes; offices and conference room space for instructors