Construction Begins on the Vanguard School Dome Addition

Vanguard school rendering.

An architectural rendering of the Monolithic Dome junior high.

Michael McCoy Architects

The Vanguard School in Colorado Springs, CO is adding a Monolithic Dome to its campus. The building will serve as the junior high for the charter school and will house seventh- and eighth-graders.

The school broke ground for the new building on Oct. 18th. While costs for the building are still being considered, it is expected to be around $5.8 million. Construction costs are being financed by bonds that were consolidated and refinanced.

Jeff Yocum, operations director at the school, explained the need for the new building. “The Vanguard School has experienced steady growth since its inception in 1995,” he stated. “This new junior high school will allow us to accommodate a growing population of seventh and eighth grade students in a world-class facility.”

This new building will provide much-needed space for students. Projected to be approximately 20,000 square feet, the building will house 12 classrooms, 2 science laboratories, and administrative rooms. Although it is a large project, Yocum says it is running under budget.

Planning for the project has been in progress for a year. It is expected to be completed in August 2017 in time for fall classes to begin. Yocum noted everything is on schedule. “No obstacles have been encountered to date,” he said. But, he added, “we know we are on a very aggressive schedule for a fall 2017 opening at the beginning of next school year.”

Vanguard is a tuition-free charter school that serves 1,300 students in grades K-12 across two campuses. It was founded in 1995 and is located in Cheyenne Mountain School District 12.