Miamisburg High School - History

History

The current Miamisburg High School was built in 1972 at approximately 100,000 sf and originally featured the controversial but then-popular open plan concept of "classrooms without walls." The building layout featured three classroom pods (later to be called the 100's, 300's and 500's wings) forming a triangle around a center core. The central pod included the main entrance, administrative space, the school library, a 200-seat lecture hall, and a 16,000 square feet (1,500 m2) commons area, the largest "room" in the Miamisburg school district. Although unorthodox in its design, the new Miamisburg High School was highly regarded for its extensive use of carpeting, internal brickwork, vaulted ceilings, and air conditioning, all of which were relatively uncommon in the early 1970s. From its opening in 1972 until the completion of a new classroom wing in 1993, this building housed grades 10, 11, and 12. Ninth grade students occupied the former high school on Sixth Street which subsequently became the 6th grade Neff Elementary School until construction of the new Miamisburg Middle School in 2011. The original 1972 structure was designed by architect Marlin Heist who also designed LaVeta Bauer Elementary School on Springboro Pike in 1967.

The academic pods were completely reprogrammed to follow a more traditional layout within just a few years and MHS received its first addition in 1980. This involved construction of a 32,000 square feet (3,000 m2) two-story gymnasium complex complete with a running track and gymnastics area, locker rooms, and fine arts classrooms (known as the 600's wing). In 1982, a 16,000 square feet (1,500 m2) classroom wing was added which gave the school 16 more classrooms (the 400's wing). These expansions were designed by Van Buren & Firestone Architects and were constructed at the rear corners of the facility.

Expansion came again to Miamisburg High School in 1993 in the form of a modern, 29,000-square-foot (2,700 m2), two-story, glass and brick addition constructed at the front of the school, providing an entirely new facade. This addition (known as the 200's wing) included 20 classrooms, administrative suites, a teachers lounge, and a bright, two-story atrium which serves as a student commons area and entrance lobby. The upper level hallways are tied together by a bridge that spans the atrium. The completion of this structure brought sufficient space to the school to house 9th grade students which had been previously housed in Miamisburg Mid-High School on Sixth Street (later Neff Elementary School). This allowed a comprehensive four-year high school curriculum to be developed at a single campus for the first time since 1971. The 1993 addition was designed by Levin-Porter Associates.

Faced with increasing student enrollment, the district embarked on an ambitious, $21 million renovation and expansion project at the high school between Spring 2009 and Fall 2012 funded as part of a district-wide facilities improvement program. The project was predicated on the demolition of two of the original academic pods (100s/west pod and 300s/east pod), which over the years, had become functionally obsolete and lent the school a confusing layout not readily conducive to further expansion. These pods were subsequently replaced with modern, two-story classroom wings serving as de facto extensions of the 200s classroom wing built in 1993. Each of these wings houses 20-25 classrooms including state-of-the-art space for science, life skills, and art. An auxiliary gymnasium was constructed at the facility's western end which served as temporary classroom "swing" space during the multi-year project. This multi-million dollar reconstruction of Miamisburg High School also included a renovated and expanded student dining commons which can accommodate approximately 700 people (about 60% more than the previous space), reconfigured administrative spaces, a new main stairwell in the atrium, comprehensive renovation of the 400s classroom wing built in 1982, new teacher workrooms, a remodeled media center, new weight training and physical fitness classrooms, a dedicated wrestling gym, renovated music classrooms, a state-of-the art television production studio, a new interior courtyard adjacent to the commons area, redesigned/enlarged parking lots, and a pedestrian plaza outside the main entrance. The entire building is now equipped with various electronic instructional tools such as SmartBoard and wi-fi technology. The school has been expanded from 186,375 square feet to approximately 260,000 square feet; student capacity has been increased from 1,372 to over 1,900. The school follows a generally departmentalized layout (physical groupings of classrooms and teachers based on academic content). New construction at the high school was designed to follow the aesthetics of the 1993 addition including its characteristic windows, brick face, and decorative massing. These latest additions and renovations at Miamisburg High School have been designed by the internationally recognized architecture/engineering firm of SSOE.

In its Miamisburg City Schools Facilities Master Plan, SSOE indicated that future possible expansions at Miamisburg High School have been identified and will be constructed in the coming decades to accommodate additional growth beyond 2,000 students.