Baker Nowicki selected to design new Bonsall High School

Baker Nowicki Design Studio has been selected to design the new Bonsall High School.

A 4-0 BUSD board vote Jan. 13, with Erin English absent, approved the selection of the San Diego firm to provide architectural services for the Bonsall High School capital improvement program.

"We wanted to be sure that we got an architect that worked with the community," said BUSD superintendent Justin Cunningham.

On Oct. 13, the BUSD board approved the issuance of a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for the design and construction of new and modernized facilities. The RFQ was issued to 10 firms on Oct. 15, and all 10 firms responded by the Nov. 3 deadline.

"There were a lot of really good architects that submitted," Cunningham said.

Cunningham, Bonsall High School principal Lee Fleming, BUSD board member Lou Riddle, BUSD assistant superintendent for business and administrative services William Pickering II, and BUSD director of facilities, maintenance, and transportation David Medcalf evaluated the responses.

The evaluations resulted in a short list of companies invited for interviews. Baker Nowicki, Davy Architecture, LPA, Roesling Nakamura Terada, Ruhnau Ruhnau Clarke, and Sprotte & Watson were interviewed on Dec. 14. The panel consisted of Cunningham, Fleming, Medcalf, and San Diego County Office of Education facility planner Tom Silva. Each firm was allowed a 20-minute presentation followed by a 25-minute question and answer period.

Following the interviews, Baker Nowicki and Ruhnau Ruhnau Clarke, which is headquartered in Carlsbad, were identified for further consideration. The two firms were asked to respond in detail how they would assist in securing community support and involvement, providing for conceptual planning and phasing strategies, working with the school district to provide a facility needs assessment plan, and obtaining state and local government agency approvals. The firms responded by electronic mail and their responses were reviewed by Cunningham, Riddle, and Medcalf.

"What we liked most about Baker Nowicki was the extensive work they did with the community in the design," Cunningham said.

Baker Nowicki was invited to participate in a second interview which focused on the firm's ability to budget within 90 percent of the anticipated funding, what priority the Bonsall district would have in the Baker Nowicki office and with the company's current workload, district master planning capabilities, California Environmental Quality Act guidelines and requirements, Baker Nowicki's ability to work with the California Department of Transportation (the new high school is expected to be off of Gird Road, which intersects with State Route 76) and county highway officials and organizations, cost estimating procedures, pre-construction strategies, and contract delivery methods and procurement of state funds for school construction.

Baker Nowicki's previous work includes Mission Hills High School in San Marcos, the Del Lago Academy high school in Escondido, and the Poway Unified School District's K-8 Design 39 Campus (which is the district's 39th school and is next to Del Norte High School). "We did like some of their innovative work," Cunningham said.

The Baker Nowicki tasks will include the design and construction of the new high school along with any modernization plans required at existing sites to accommodate student population growth and updated technology.

The school district plans to construct the new high school in phases rather than all at once. "We're definitely going to build as we go," Cunningham said.