Starting in January 2025 and finishing in fall 2025, phase two — which is to convert the culinary classrooms in the K-building into two Science Labs — will start after the full completion of phase one and finish in fall 2025. This construction plan that began in the fall of 2022 included a major modernization of the administration office, cafeteria and exterior and interior dining halls. The A-building will house administration facilities, a nurse’s office, a multi-purpose room for teacher meetings and additional eating areas. The B-building will feature a Design Studio and classrooms and a kitchen for Culinary Arts.

With the new administration office’s “court- yard-like entrance”, Senior Construction Manager Mohammed Sedqi explains that its location was most suitable for parents’ and visitors’ way finding and staffs’ supervision.

“The best architecture is when you don’t need a sign saying ‘admin is there’. You want to just arrive at the parking lot and clearly know where it is,” he said. “The entrance is facing the parking lot, so it’s this new face to the school entrance that helps promote the sense of place at the school.”

The renovation work includes adding 8,000 square feet to the existing 12,000 square feet of building. During the process, the crew tackled challenges with remodeling an existing building, such as the absence of utilities lines
underground and older, incorrect spokes. Sedqi also said that potential setbacks in regulatory food space checkpoints will not be a major problem, ensuring a timely debut.

PAUSD Facilities & Construction Director Eric Holm describes that many tasks, including installations of electrical wiring, landscaping and planters, were allocated to start between the end of school and start of summer school to
prevent disruption during the school year. The construction team planned to repave the streets and repaint the main exit when summer school ended on July 19.

“We try to have the least amount of disturbance to students, so we use the summer to work outside of the fences of the building construction site,” he said. “So to connect the entire power of the buildings, we had to shut down the entire campus for three days.”

Sedqi expresses a similar sentiment.

“Because of the first winter storm that hit us hard, we had a challenging period with a mud pit in construction for months,” he said. “Otherwise, summer is when we make a lot of progress without things that hit a delay like interrupting school activity.”

Holm explains that unexpected changes and additions from the original plan range from environmental concern to improved technology.

“An example is that the contractor’s access to get things would end up damaging the trees because the building was too close, so we’ve made some modifications there,” he said. “We’ve also changed as a district. Gunn is one of our test cases for a new security system and camera system inside, so that all the doors are Access Reader on this building, and you won’t need any keys to get into the building.”

For future projects, Gunn may consider cross-laminated timber, a material built from sustainably harvested big wood lumber, as used in rebuilding Herbert Hoover Elementary School in March of 2024.

“The cool thing about mass timber, which is cross laminated timber, is it being the new zero carbon footprint technology,” Sedqi said. “It’s a really good direction, and if that is successful, that might be a prototype for future projects.”

For Sedqi, whose role in construction stemmed from a childhood of building Legos, he finds it rewarding to be able to connect with students and teachers, like food services and CTE Instructional Lead and culinary science teacher Cindy Peters, to execute campus facilities or that elevate each part of the community.

“I’m proud of the culinary classroom and kitchen because I have had a lot of meetings with Cindy. If you’ve been to her class, she’s been there for roughly 20 to 30 years and it’s outdated. So I like when she’s on site and says, ‘I’m happy about this. I want to teach here.’” he said. “It’s for her and for all the students. You’re gonna get some place that is
like cooking in a place that looks like a five star restaurant. It feels really good.”

While construction is continual with interior design efforts such as installing flooring, ceiling lights and kitchen equipment; painting the walls; and putting in attack panels, Assistant Principal of Facilities Dr. Mycal Hixon points out that the administration is focused on finding ways to better students’
environments and fulfill their needs.

“It allows us to continue to support students in the best, most efficient and safest way possible,” he said. “It finally allows for a cafeteria dining space during rainy day weather and is air conditioned for students to have lunch. That definitely means a lot for Gunn, while meeting all the measures and safety disciplines as best as administration
can.”

Gallery • 4 Photos

Chinyoung Shao

This November marked the end of the demolition phase of the A- and B-building modernization project and the beginning of the construction of the new buildings’ metal frameworks. The A- and B-building construction is scheduled to be completed by August 2024, and the buildings will be furnished and ready for use by December 2024.

Over the past three months, workers have installed slabs on the floors of both buildings to cover underground utilities and conduits, and have begun constructing the metal deck for the roof. According to the November Facilities and Construction Newsletter, the steel deck for roof installation will be welded next.

The construction team is working on developing the plumbing, electrical-wiring and fire-protection systems. They will continue to work on the frame, including wood framing, light-gauge framing, metal-stud framing, welding and steel frameworking, according to Senior Construction Manager Mohammed Sedqi. The construction crews will also install insulation in the walls and on the roof.

Currently, the construction project is on time, with crews caught up on last winter’s lost progress.

The assembly of the building’s metal framework, which requires welding and the use of a crane, presented noticeable changes. Though welding can emit concentrations of hazardous airborne contaminants, according to the Department of Industrial Relations, around 80% of welding is completed off campus, and any welding on campus is done at a safe distance from students.

“As long as we are welding (higher) up, it should not be a concern and is not in close proximity to the students,” Sedqi said.

Though there has been progress on the framework and flooring, construction has had to adapt to student needs. The pavement in front of the C- and E-buildings, fenced off during the second semester of the 2022-23 school year, was reopened with stairs and a ramp to provide students space to walk to classes.

This change, however, gave construction workers less room to work with. The opened area blocks the path of the crane, meaning that the crane needs to be wheeled between the A- and B-buildings to access the B-building construction.

“It was a tough decision (to open up the area to students) because it had a negative impact on the construction,” Sedqi said.

According to Associated Student Body President Nathan Levy, the Student Executive Council has not communicated with students about the construction. Levy said that the administrative team’s monthly newsletter will be the main source of construction updates.

Both students and administrative staff find the construction inconvenient. Although the administrative team has adapted to the current C- and E-building setup, the noise and dust from the construction present complications, according to Secretary Carole Main.

“It really is a problem when they use certain machines that vibrate or when they have machines that create a lot of dust,” she said.

Senior Alexander Lafler-Austern explained that the noise and location of the construction makes navigating the school day more difficult.

“It’s frustrating because sometimes I have to go out of my way (to avoid) the construction because I have a higher-than-average noise sensitivity,” he said. “The construction noises are literally painful when I am near it.”

However, Main is excited for the new building to be completed: It will have a central location on campus with modern amenities where visitors can come.

“The old offices were built in 1964, and we didn’t have air conditioning and we had rats, so it is nice to have (a building) that really represents Gunn,” Main said.

Started in fall 2022, the modernization effort includes a new administration office with a more prominent entrance and a food-services complex. The latter will house indoor and outdoor eating spaces and culinary arts classrooms alongside traditional food-services facilities. Both buildings are on track to be completed before the start of the 2024-25 school year.

Senior Construction Manager Mohammed Sedqi explained that contractors lost 1 1?2 months’ worth of work time due to last winter’s unusually heavy rains. Consequently, they had to work more intensely toward the end of the school year. “When March started and we had no rain, we were pushing for more people, more crews, more labor,” he said. “You had a team taking down the columns, (another) taking down the foundation. That overlap of so many activities made all that noise.”

As construction continues throughout this year, Sedqi hopes that the work will be less disruptive. The asphalt between the quad and E-building has been replaced with concrete, and fences will be pushed closer to the construction site, opening a corridor for students to walk to the southeastern portion of campus without cutting through the quad.

Looking ahead, Principal Wendy Stratton is working with new Assistant Principal Mycal Hixon, who will be overseeing construction, and Associated Student Body President Nathan Levy to make the process more transparent and accessible. Stratton believes student involvement is key, since students are important beneficiaries and the project was funded through taxpayer dollars. On his part, Levy has formed a new Student Executive Council committee that will attend construction meetings and share relevant updates in a new monthly newsletter.

Levy hopes that classes can take advantage of the ongoing work. “It could be a learning opportunity for a lot of different classes — one where they could take tours or learn more about the construction process,” he said. As an example, Levy pointed to how students in Advanced Placement Environmental Science classes could focus on the steps construction crews are taking to minimize damage to the environment and create greener buildings.

Sedqi also expressed a desire to work with students who are interested in architecture, construction or engineering. “I’ll be more than happy to get them involved in this — just to see the progress, how we are doing the work, what’s happening,” he said.

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Construction of administration and food service is projected to last around 18 months, directly affecting students, teachers and administration. The completion of the program will also renovate two science classrooms and move them from the portables to the K Building.

During the construction, food services will be relocated to a temporary facility near the quad, and pre-packaged lunch will be provided by an outside vendor. A portion of the parking lot will also be closed to allow more space for construction workers.

Nonetheless, Holm says that the district aims to minimize the construction’s impacts on student learning. “One of the things we had experienced last fall with the construction of the parking lot was hitting a water line twice,” Holm said. “With construction, there are always risks, so we try to do riskier things on weekends when we have more time to fix something if it goes wrong.”

For social studies teachers Arthur Kinyanjui and Dawna Linsdell, however, the construction will significantly affect their daily routines. According to Holm, administration offices will temporarily operate in the C and E Buildings, meaning that Kinyanjui and Linsdell must relocate their classrooms across the school to the portables.

Since he has taught in E-02 for more than six years, Kinyanjui foresees difficulties from the change in environment.“We are moving from a room that’s well-lit to a room that has very few windows,” Kinyanjui said. “For me, that’s big. I grew up outdoors, so I prefer having more natural light.”

Ultimately, his concerns are centered around his students. “I’m leaving a group of colleagues with whom I have developed professional and personal relationships,” he said. “This works to the advantage of the students because any time I have a question, I know who to run to. When I leave them, it’s my students who suffer the most.”

Additionally, Kinyanjui will lose his current ability to manage his students’ seating arrangements in the larger E Building classrooms and monitor them while they work outside. “I don’t see any space [in the village] that I’ll be able to use that way, so I can say I am quite worried about this project,” he said. “Those are two years of students having to deal with conditions that are not optimal for learning.”

Within that period, Kinyanjui plans to make the best use of the temporary space to help support his students. “I’m going to call it an opportunity to put up some new decorations that make the classroom feel like a learning space,” he said. “I can be moved, but nothing is going to kill my enthusiasm for teaching.”

Early Days of Gunn

In 1964, Henry M. Gunn High School was founded by the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) due to an influx of new students in Palo Alto. On its opening day, the school welcomed 600 students as well as new teachers. Among them was former chemistry teacher Ron Iverson, who distinctly remembers what it was like walking through Gunn in the 1960s.

Back then, Gunn’s campus seemed very small when compared to its size nowadays and only comprised of fifteen buildings: an administrative building, a student activities building, a cluster of four buildings for language and social studies instruction, a cluster of four buildings for math and science instruction, an art building, the Spangenberg Theater, a business education and home economics building, an industrial arts building and a physical education facility.

While some of these buildings still remain today, easily identified with elements of Gunn’s well-known architecture style—low facades, shingled mansards with wood siding and open-air hallways with concrete columns—others have been replaced over the years with more modern counterparts. Places like the Senior Quad, which once had a fountain, have since changed tremendously. “People would be sitting around the fountain in this beautiful raised area,” Iverson said. “The library was right across from [the quad], and behind the library was Spangenberg Theater. Now, it’s a completely different place.” 

Even in shorter periods of time, Gunn has still changed significantly. In his 15 years of teaching at Gunn, English teacher Marc Igler recalls a seemingly different campus than the one he now teaches at today. “It’s almost like [teaching] in a new school,” Igler said. “I’ve seen an awful lot of change during my time teaching [at Gunn]. The school’s looking a lot better.”

Recent Construction Projects

Recently, Gunn has undergone a multitude of various construction projects. For years following its opening, many of Gunn’s original buildings remained untouched. In 2001, the district first started construction by renovating the interiors of many buildings, creating a new library and adding classrooms to the science building. From 2001-2007, interiors for the Spangenberg Theater, art building, administration building and the library were also renovated.

In 2009, the creation of the N-Building on a previously empty lot began. The project lasted until 2013, and the building now houses all math and English classrooms. During the same time, a world language building was also created to house the various language classrooms. The joint cost of both buildings was around $25 million. The Titan Gym was also created in 2012 at a price of $12 million.

In 2017, the school aimed its focus towards replacing an old building next to the Senior Quad that once served as the school’s library. The construction led to the creation of the school’s second two-story building: the P-Building. The two-year long project simultaneously modernized the Spangenberg Theater and came at a total cost of $25 million.

With the addition of the Miranda Avenue drop-off area in 2014, the district also brought up-to-date various entrances and exits of the campus. In 2021, the school’s parking lot also received touch-ups, benefiting students like junior Aiden Man. “I usually walk or take the bus to school, and have noticed that the flow of traffic is smoother, making it easier to travel in and out of the parking lot,” he said.

Construction Process

For every long construction project comes an even longer planning process. PAUSD Facilities and Construction Director Eric Holm oversees all activities surrounding construction. In his experience, the undertakings necessary for an important construction project are lengthy and consist of a multi-step process that can take years to complete.

The process begins with a “master plan,” which lists all the areas needing renovations or a complete upheaval that is created by members of the district. “It’s looking at the needs and asking if they can be accommodated in the current space or if the school needs a new one,” Holm said. “Sometimes it’s brought forth by the site, by the superintendent, a donor-led initiative or other programmatic needs.”

Alongside other board members, board member Jennifer DiBrienza oversees the various steps leading to the proposal of a master plan. “We have staff that tells us how big the scope of a project should be, recommend an architectural firm to go out to to design it and get construction companies to bid it,” she said. “For any construction that happens, the board approves different steps of it about a dozen times along the way.”

Once a master plan is approved by the board, the Palo Alto community votes on whether or not the district should receive a bond to work towards achieving these goals. In 2018, for instance, the district received $460 million in bond money. 10 years before that, they received $378 million.

After the district receives and distributes the money throughout its schools, Holm can work alongside construction workers to begin the development of the project. As classes remain in session despite construction projects, the district takes several precautions to minimize the effects building will have on its surrounding classes. “A lot of times, the louder parts happen after dismissal,” DiBrienza said. “[Besides that,] we really capitalize on the summer. Mr. Holm is ready to go as soon as [students] graduate and then works all summer.”

Opinions on Construction

Although construction can have positive impacts on Gunn’s campus such as providing new, more reliable, environments for learning in the long run, many students argue that it can affect their high school experiences. Senior Sadhya Ananth recalls how past construction projects have disrupted her daily life, despite the district’s efforts to minimize their potential repercussions. “I do not appreciate the construction because it makes it harder for me to leave school, and it makes passing periods longer,” she said. 

Furthermore, previous on-campus construction sites have separated areas of the campus and have made it harder for students to traverse it. During the P-Building construction, Student Activities Director Lisa Hall vividly remembers the disconnect between areas of campus. “We had this big fenced off area right in the middle of campus, which divided where people could go,” she said.

Over the years, construction projects have become an inevitable part of most of the time students and staff spend at Gunn. For many, it seems endless. “We have had some form of construction ever since I’ve been here in the last 17 years,” Hall said. “There’s always going to be a building that needs to be upgraded right about the time we finish another section of school. It would be nice to be able to be on campus and not have any work happening, but it’s inevitable.”  

According to Holm, construction on high school campuses seems endless due to their size. “It does seem like we’ve been building at Gunn and at Palo Alto High School forever, partially [because] the sites are huge,” Holm said. “There are a lot of buildings, and we’re constantly in a state of rehabilitating or reconfiguring buildings as needed by either programmatic changes, growth of students or just the age of the buildings.”

On a daily basis, over 12,000 students as well as other teachers and staff attend PAUSD schools. The constant use of facilities can significantly affect campus safety. “At a school site, you have a population of a couple thousand kids walking through every single day,” Holm said. “The buildings get a significant amount of wear and tear. We are held to a higher standard than commercial or residential construction on the safety factors of buildings.” 

Holm also explained how renovating and creating new facilities create a more welcoming environment in schools for both students and staff. Incorporating temperature-controlled rooms and more advanced technologies into both new and already existing areas is one of the ways the district helps foster a more comfortable schooling environment. “[As a district, we] want the learning environments to support education,” Holm said. “We want students to feel comfortable in quiet, temperature controlled spaces that are a welcoming environment for them to learn in.” 

Not only do construction projects create safer, more welcoming campuses for students and staff, but they also help ensure schools remain reliable learning options in the future, according to DiBrienza. “As a district, most of what we do day to day [can be done] without such nice buildings,” she said. “But when you have the support of the community to make those investments, you put [the district] on secure footing.”

Future Projects

Looking forward, the district plans to shift its focus from renovating its high schools towards a more centralized focus on its primary schools. By doing so, less construction projects will occur on high school grounds. “We did work on the high schools and some on the middle schools, and now it’s time to focus on the elementary schools,” Holm said. 

Although the district is focusing towards modernizing its primary schools, Gunn will still undergo some construction. Many small and large projects are currently in the planning stages and will begin over the next couple of years. “We have begun slowing down the work on the high schools, but we also have more projects in the pipeline,” Holm said. “We’re going to replace the M-Building at some point in the next decade, update Bow Gym and expand [the] Titan Gym dance and weight rooms.”  

According to the district’s latest master plan, other projects include replacing the current administration and cafeteria buildings, modernizing Spangenberg Theater, making changes to the Freshman Quad, altering the science office area, adding CTE labs to the L-Building, improving the Hal Daner football stadium, adding synthetic turf to the soccer field and introducing solar panels into the parking lot. 

The replacement of the current administration and cafeteria buildings will be the largest of the listed projects, starting during the summer of 2022 and lasting over two years. The $27 million “A and B project”  will create new buildings that will house not only administration as well as food service, but also a culinary lab, design studio, indoor dining area and large meeting room. “We’re [also] changing the Batcave to be outdoor seating,” Holm said. 

With the addition of a culinary lab and design studio, all of CTE Instructional Lead Cindy Peters’ classes will be moved to the new building and provided a selection of new appliances. “We’re going to have a wonderful commercial kitchen, and we’re going to be able to revamp the whole way I teach my classes,” Peters said. “Future construction is awesome, and I’m looking forward to it.” 

The district has always had an important focus on construction, one that will most likely continue in the future. Although they can affect student experiences on campus, construction can lead to a host of new benefits for future students and staff. “The school district has always been so powerful at looking ahead,” Iverson said. “They’re definitely doing the right kinds of changes, and that’s what the future should be [like].”

Gallery • 6 Photos

Photo of the Hal Daner track from the 1966 edition of "The Olympian."

The pipe break was a result of the parking lot construction project. While redirecting an irrigation line, workers accidentally struck the old water pipes. District Facilities Construction Director Eric Holm was on site surveying the efforts to fix the pipe break. “They were boring through this area, which is typically a less destructive method when you do water utility lines,” Holm said. “They checked the area with a ground penetrating radar, but it seems that the concrete pipe was so old that it could not be picked up by [the radar].”

According to Assistant Principal Leonel Argumedo, the admin discovered water bubbling out of the ground in the morning. Because it came from the main line, they had to shut down the water supply to the rest of the school. “There is no water anywhere,” he said. “The restrooms are inaccessible.”

In addition to the logistics of keeping 2,000 students on campus without bathrooms, the administrators were concerned about student safety. Both factored into the decision to end school early for the day. “God forbid if there was a fire,” Argumedo said. “We would have nothing to put it out.”

Construction workers on site are already working to replace the broken portion of the main line. “Right now they’re digging down to expose the line,” Holm said. “They’ve got a guy who’s already gone out to the store to buy the replacement pipes. We hope to have it finished by today.”

Even if the pipe is not fixed, administrators are optimistic of reopening the campus for class tomorrow with alternatives. Palo Alto Unified School District Superintendent Don Austin was on scene as construction workers peered into the ground. “We’re still going to be open tomorrow,” he said. “We’re going to bring portable restrooms, but obviously we don’t have that right now.”

Posts will be sent out via Schoology to students and staff about class and on-site sports, which will also be cancelled today.

One of the most notable changes is the expansion in space. “In our old lounge area, we [could] only really accommodate like eight to ten students comfortably, whereas now we [can fit] probably twenty,” wellness coordinator Genavae Pierre Dixon said. With more room, two additional couches have been added, as well as a larger resource library and a corner dedicated to sensory fidget toys. 

The decor and space aren’t the only new additions. The Wellness Team has added Counseling and Support Services for Youth (CASSY) therapist Emily Rubens and wellness outreach worker Rosie Castillo to their staff. “This is my first year here,” Castillo said. “And I really love the fact that even though [the] Wellness Center seems to bring a lot of the stuff that people are struggling with, at the same time we also have a lot of opportunities to see students in a really great way.”

The team has been adjusting well to the relocation, agreeing that the center’s greatest benefit to students is the privacy of the new hallway. According to Lead CASSY Site Therapist Michelle Ramos, students check in and wait in the lobby while the sessions take place in private rooms. The hallway in-between the two allows for a smoother transition to a student’s session, as well as a feeling of confidentiality. 

This helps create a better general atmosphere for students. “I like the flow that we have, the separation of the Wellness Center, and the privacy that [provides],” Ramos said.  “It helps with confidentiality for those students.” Unlike the open space of the previous center, the separation establishes boundaries, making students feel more secure.

Ramos commented that because of this, more students are willing to visit and check-in. “I’d like to think that it’s going to be much more welcoming,” she said.

The Wellness Team plans to utilize these changes and work towards new projects. Some ideas include a weekly Flex session to hold hands-on workshops such as stress ball making and group meditation. Another idea is to continue the Heart and Wellness group—which ran expressive arts sessions—last year and branch out to activities that take advantage of the bigger space. The team is also working towards creating a gardening club and organizing therapy dog visits.

Future goals have been set as well. Dixon and Ramos hope that this year, the Wellness Center can focus on low-level interventions: raising awareness around symptoms that might arrive before a crisis, and how to prevent them early on. “By the time we support a student, they’re already in full panic mode, which means we’re missing a big section of what can be done for them,” Dixon said. 

For her first year, Castillo hopes to raise awareness of mental health among parents and has worked with the outreach worker at Palo Alto High School to coordinate parent meetings and events. “Our students have really amazing insights,” said Castillo. “If we’re going to make some real change and make an actual impact on the wellness of our students, it’s really important to have the parents [contribute]. By doing that, we need to have them understand what it is that y’all are facing, because it’s a totally different perspective in a totally different world.”

To implement these new ideas, the Wellness Team is working with organizations such as the Children’s Health Council, Community Health Awareness Council, Adolescent Counseling Services and Parent Teacher Student Association, as well as the school psychologist and counselors to find the approach that works best for students. “I’m looking for therapeutic support that they might provide for the community,” Castillo said. “That way, I can link students and families to that support at their agencies.”

Castillo says that she has been impressed by the amount of knowledge that these organizations provide.  “[A] lot of people don’t do this for the money, because if they did they wouldn’t be here,” she said. “We all know that we’re on a team together. I think that’s the best part of it: the fact that nobody feels like that they’re doing it alone.”

Assistant Principal of Facilities Margaret Reynolds is excited about the new cohesiveness of campus. “It’s nice to see the campus open up again,” she said. “It definitely brings more community to Gunn.”

The newly-named P building will be home to the graphic design, yearbook, Student Executive Council and journalism classes. The Wellness Center, College and Career Center, Student Activity Office (SAO) and Student Activities Center (SAC) will also be moving into the new building next year.

Until then, however, the various departments and classes are gradually moving in when able to. “We can’t have wellness and counseling up there [until] potentially mid-May,” Reynolds said. “[And] media arts can’t move in yet because the tables are foldable and fall down, but when the computers come in we’ll have that all set up.”       According to Reynolds, the administration is planning the extended move in, which should finish next school year. An official ribbon-cutting ceremony is planned for next fall.

Administration, teachers and students are excited to officially move in in August. “I look forward to being in that part of the school,” graphic design   teacher and yearbook advisor Mark Gleason  said. “It seems like a warm hub of activity.”

Junior Peyton Lee is also happy with his experience in the new buildings. “I’m involved in the music department so the new music facilities, which have been open a little longer than the SAC, are really great and definitely better than the village,” he said. “I like the [new SAC] bathrooms and the new [SAO] is really nice.”

Reynolds hopes this new building will promote communication and collaboration between the school yearbook, “The Olympian,”  and the school newspaper, The Oracle. “I’m a firm believer in continuity, like social studies should be with social studies,” she said. “They should be close to each other and if they’re disjointed there’s a little bit of separation and we really want to promote collegiality and collaboration.”

Construction planning was not all smooth sailing, however. “It’s just kind of a work in progress, like anything else there’s sort of bumps along the way but we’re doing our best and everyone is maintaining their composure and patience,” Reynolds said.

According to Gleason, lack of communication often led to frustration and confusion. “This [project] has gone through several administrators, and no one has carried that information forth except for [journalism adviser Kristy] Blackburn and me, and a few other teachers,” he said. “The administrators in that position now are trying to figure out what’s going on. They’ve been handed certain things that they have to do and they’re listening and they’re trying to work around it.”

The design choices have also raised some controversy. Lee, for one, thinks that the Gunn logo is a little excessive. “We all know we’re at Gunn, it’s just a bit extreme,” he said.

Some others have also critiqued the color choice. “They’re calling it the ‘P building’ and it’s yellow?” Gleason said. “[But] I personally like the sunny yellow because the rest of the campus looks sort of like army barracks.”

Despite these complaints, students and faculty agree that the new building will be a welcome addition to campus life. “I think it could have been done in a more expeditious way but overall I think it’s worth [the years of construction],” Lee said.

Looking towards the future, the school is already preparing for the next round of construction, according to Reynolds. “That building where the cafeteria is will be the new admin building; the admin building currently will be the new cafeteria, food services and culinary arts space,” she said. They also plan to use up the bond money they have now to expand concessions, add air conditioning to Titan Gym and modernize Spangenberg and the classrooms. “We’re very excited. Everyone’s going to get kind of an update,” Reynolds said.