GRAND MEADOW – Seeing is believing.

Thursday, July 12, 2001

GRAND MEADOW – Seeing is believing.

The first of five domes was inflated at the new K-12 Grand Meadow Independent School District Wednesday.

The process was viewed by superintendent Bruce A. Klaehn, school board members, teaching faculty and students as well as other Grand Meadow residents.

With help from the Minnesota Legislature, it’s no exaggeration to say Grand Meadow is "building Minnesota’s school of the future."

Other school districts, facing the decision whether or not to repair old facilities or build new, are watching the concrete monolithic dome project in eastern Mower County with great interest.

Randall Lutz, senior project manager, and Doug Cedarstrand, construction manager, for E&V Consulting and Construction Managers, Minneapolis, were present for Wednesday’s dome inflation.

"It went very, very well," said Lutz. "In fact, it went exactly as it should have."

It took an hour to inflate the fabric membrane of the first of five domes. The dome’s interior will be sprayed with primer and then, a polyurethane foam insulation will be applied on the interior and finally, structural concrete or "shot-creeting" will be applied by the high-pressure sprayers.

"This pod will contain the school cafetorium, music room, shop and kitchen areas," said Lutz.

The dome measures 150-feet in diameter and rises sharply to a peak of 42 feet at its center apex.

Three such domes will be connected as the front of the building and two others, including the one erected Wednesday, in the rear.

Kindergarten through eighth grade classrooms and ninth through 12th grade classrooms will share the front row’s domes.

The school is being constructed along Highway16 at the east edge of Grand Meadow on a 40-acre site.

According to Cedarstrand and Lutz, despite a n inclement winter, which delayed site preparation work, and a wet spring, which delayed it further, the contractors expect to "catch up’ with the construction schedule this summer.

"We’ve also had to deal with a lot of soil corrections, including moving tens of thousands of cubic yards of dirt, but we hope to recover our schedule this summer," said Lutz, "and we’re making good progress toward that goal now."

No other concrete monolithic dome school like the one being built at Grand Meadow exists in Minnesota.

The Metrodome in Minneapolis is a fabric-only dome held up by constant air pressure. Once the insulation and structural concrete are sprayed into place, the Grand Meadow school’s five domes will be in place for the lifetime of the building. The white fabric membranes will become the domes’ exterior.

Grand Meadow’s original choices were to spent $6.5 million to renovate a 1916 elementary school building and other buildings to modern standards. Or, the district could spend $12 million for a new K-12 school.

Then, a third option arose: build a monolithic dome K-12 school for $9.8 million.

Voters approved an $8 million referendum in September 1998 for the dome school. The Minnesota Legislature approved a $3 million grant to help build the school. The remainder of the monies are coming from school district funds set aside for building health and safety upgrades.

The new school is expected to be ready by the fall of 2002.

Superintendent Klaehn and former school board member Polly Glynn guided a group of faculty, support staff and students on a tour inside the first dome at mid-day Wednesday.

Klaehn eagerly answered questions and showed the visitors how the dome was inflated.

After the tour, Glynn, who helped spearhead the concrete monolithic dome school project, was asked what she thought of the sight of a huge white dome in a farm field.

"It’s something, isn’t it?" she responded.

Something else, indeed.

(Grand Meadow school district residents may monitor the school website www.gm.k12.mn.us for continual updates of all aspects of the new school project.)

Call Lee Bonorden at 434-2232 or e-mail him at Lee.Bonorden@austindailyherald.com.