Ben Davis High School, Indianapolis, Indiana

Ben Davis High School, the largest three-grade high school in Indiana, is currently undergoing a major addition/renovation that is scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2002. Almost every area of the existing 490,000-square-foot school will be renovated, with academic areas consolidated and classrooms updated for new technology. There also will be new and renovated auditoriums, science facilities, a modernized kitchen, cafeteria, and media center, and renovated locker, physical education, and pool facilities. The expansion will provide 180,000 additional square feet in program space, ease circulation throughout the 32-year-old building, and improve or replace mechanical, electrical, fire protection, security, and life-safety systems. The Ben Davis complex, which serves approximately 2,700 students in grades ten through twelve, is one of the most widely used schools in Indianapolis. In addition to traditional high school instruction, the building is used for night school, as well as community events, such as athletic competitions and artistic performances. Administrators estimate that approximately 5,000 people pass through the doors for after-school programs during a typical week. The expansion of the high school is the largest portion of a township-wide project that will also include modernizing four elementary schools.