High school among oaks instills pride

Live oaks are one of the Lowcountry's greatest natural features, and nowhere are they more visible than on Johns Island, where they shade its most scenic roads and where the Angel Oak -- the Everest of these trees -- stands in its own park. The island's latest celebration of the oaks can be found at the new St. John's High School, where more than a dozen large oaks survive and frame an elegant new brick campus. One of the challenges facing Thomas Denzinger Architects was how to fit the new school onto the site while keeping the former high school building in operation during construction. The new building was sited in a wooded area in the rear off Main Road, but it cleverly wraps around the largest trees, not only protecting them but showing them off in a dramatic way. The theme is set at the entrance, where an oak sits in the middle of a circular driveway. The curve is repeated on the breezeway. Architect Hermann Denzinger says his goal is to design a building that not only fits into the natural site but improves it. Many people might not have noticed these trees behind the old school, but they stand out now. A large tree can be seen from a small room off the media center. Another oak can be seen behind the cafeteria's stage. Windows in a hallway offer a view of two oaks, and an oak's canopy extends over almost the entirety of the school's main inner courtyard, like a roof. The school is practically in the woods. Principal Kenneth Wilson is proud to give tours of the campus, for which Thomas & Denzinger Architects recently won an honor award from the S.C. chapter of the American Institute of Architects. The positioning of the building isn't the only nice touch. Outside the front door, the new landscaping is marked by a large surviving segment of the original high school's walls, shaved off about 1-1/2 feet above the ground. Alumni still can walk their old hallways, only now they're garden paths. "They left some semblance of the old building, so people would remember the old building," Wilson said. That's not the only part of the old school that survives: The district's money didn't allow for replacing either the field house or football stadium. But the gym has been replaced, and the architects also designed a retractable wall that allows the auditorium and cafeteria to merge into one space. Wilson said the building isn't perfect: He would prefer that the classroom wings have four rooms instead of three, and he notes that some people have difficulty finding the main entrance. "People drive to the gym and park and then have to figure out where the front office is," he said. The two-story brick school -- which has 374 students -- has an intimacy that the new West Ashley and Wando high schools, which were built for thousands, simply cannot hope for. Wilson credits the faculty, staff and mostly the students for St. John's improvement on state report cards: It received an "excellent" improvement rating on its state report card last fall, which brought its overall rating up from "unsatisfactory" to "below average." Anyone taking a close look at the new building has to wonder if it didn't lend a helping hand as well. Principal leader J.E. Wright has worked in both the old and new versions of St. John's. "One of the major things I've noticed with the transition from the old building and new building is a tremendous sense of pride," he said.

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