Divine Savior Academy High School

Divine Savior Academy, a private school located in Doral, Florida, hired Somerville to design its new 400-student high school. The current 550-student PreK3 to 9th grade school is the only private Christian school in Doral and serves the greater Miami area.

The Florida school approached Somerville after touring another of our school designs – Fox Valley Lutheran High School in Appleton, Wisconsin. “Initially our Board of Directors expressed some concerns about the distance between the Architect and our project”, said Administrator Carlos Leyrer, “but the distance was never an issue, and the planning and design process couldn’t have gone smoother. We’re very pleased with the professional services and the final design. Somerville’s staff knowledge and technical capabilities are impressive.”

Divine Savior Academy’s new stand-alone high school building is located to the north of its current campus on an adjoining 7.75 acres of land. The high-density, compact nature of the site required creative planning, resulting in a 3-story academic building design utilizing tilt-wall concrete construction. The additional 88,000 square feet of educational space has 23 classrooms, 4 science labs, tiered lecture rooms, an outdoor classroom, a gymnasium, locker rooms, a weight room, media center, audio visual lab, computer lab, chess competition room, dance studio, art studio, and music lab. The campus also includes 4 tennis courts, a soccer field, playground, and over 200 additional parking spaces. The entire PreK3 to 12th grade program now benefits from these additions. Phase 2 of the project will eventually include a worship and arts center which has already been designed as part of the master campus plan.