{"id":214429,"date":"2025-09-10T02:59:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T02:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/214429\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T02:59:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T02:59:10","slug":"fargo-school-board-chooses-architect-to-lead-design-for-new-northside-elementary-inforum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/214429\/","title":{"rendered":"Fargo school board chooses architect to lead design for new northside elementary – InForum"},"content":{"rendered":"

FARGO \u2014 The Fargo Board of Education approved an architectural firm\u2019s proposal to lead the design of a new, combined elementary school in north Fargo.<\/p>\n

Board members awarded the design project to ICON Architectural Group at their meeting Tuesday, Sept. 9.<\/p>\n

ICON was one of seven firms that submitted proposals for the design project, according to district documents.<\/p>\n

Members of administration interviewed the top three firms Aug. 26 and ultimately recommended ICON.<\/p>\n

\u201cIcon in particular, just kind of on every level, sort of took everything up a notch and really came ready to hit the ground running,\u201d Facilities Director James Hand said.<\/p>\n

The board approved the project at its July 8 meeting<\/a><\/p>\n

as part of the district\u2019s long-range facilities plan.<\/p>\n

The project will involve architectural services covering building design; mechanical, electrical, structural, and civil engineering; landscaping; food service; and furniture, fixtures and equipment.<\/p>\n

The new elementary school will be built on the current Horace Mann campus, consolidating Horace Mann, Roosevelt and Madison elementary schools into one three-section, K-5 building for approximately 444 students, a district memo said.<\/p>\n

The existing Horace Mann school, built in 1915, will be demolished before construction begins.<\/p>\n

The school marked its<\/p>\n

last first day of school when the academic year began Aug. 27.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWith a construction start this summer, it\u2019s important to have an efficient design process and a collaborative team, and I think they really exemplified that,\u201d Hand said.<\/p>\n

Bill Westrick, strategy and innovation officer, said ICON stood out based on their previous work with districts that had school consolidations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey even came up with a recognition wall that they said, had we not started with student feedback, I don’t know we would have ended up here,\u201d Westrick said.<\/p>\n

Superintendent Cory Steiner said ICON has already begun collecting photos from people who\u2019ve attended the schools involved in the project.<\/p>\n

\"082825.N.FF.LastHoraceMann6.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Students enter Horace Mann Elementary School on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025, during the “last first day” at the north Fargo school building.<\/p>\n

Anna Paige \/ The Forum<\/p>\n

According to the district memo, the three-story, 70,000 gross square footage facility will feature:<\/p>\n

\u2022 A secure main entry and learning commons at ground level<\/p>\n

\u2022 Grade-level \u201clearning hubs\u201d with adjacent small-group, sensory, resource, and flex rooms<\/p>\n

\u2022 Dedicated STEAM\/maker, music and visual arts suites<\/p>\n

\u2022 A 4,700 square-foot gymnasium and multipurpose physical education studio<\/p>\n

\u2022 Outdoor spaces including age-appropriate K\u20131 and 2\u20135 play areas, an outdoor learning area and open play field<\/p>\n

\u2022 A 108-stall north parking lot with separate parent drop-off loop, bus-only curb, and service access<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FARGO \u2014 The Fargo Board of Education approved an architectural firm\u2019s proposal to lead the design of a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":214430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[52529,648,1032,1033,171,117249,117250,117251,61540,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-214429","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-architect","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-arts-and-design","11":"tag-design","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-fargo-public-schools","14":"tag-fargo-school-board","15":"tag-horace-mann","16":"tag-icon","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115177767870482224","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}