The Rock Ridge (Minn.) district has completed construction of the $122 million Rock Ridge Career Academy High School.
The 280,000-square-foot facility in Virginia, Minn., has a variety of scales of learning spaces to support individual study, small-group collaboration and large-group presentation. Flexible furniture and space layouts will enable the school to adapt to ever-changing education needs over time without undergoing extensive renovations.
The Rock Ridge district was formed in 2020 when the Virginia and Eveleth-Gilbert school systems merged. Construction of the high school began soon after the merger.
The design of the building maximizes natural light access and showcases regional materials, such as weathering steel panels and exposed timber.
The high school also has five fully synthetic turf athletics fields, a new stadium complex with a running track, grandstands and press box, competition pool, three-station gym, nature trail, wetlands boardwalk, fitness center, performing arts center and music facilities.
The school offers distinct career tracks: Business Management, Administration, Arts, Communications and Information Systems; Health and Human Services; and Agriculture, Food, Manufacturing, Construction, Engineering and Science.
The builder is Kraus-Anderson Construction Company, and the architects are Cuningham Group Architecture and DSGW Architects.
