Cabool School District // Middle School Tornado Safe Room

When funding became available for the Cabool School District, one of their top priorities was creating a FEMA tornado safe room for the school and community, with the primary daily use of serving as a band room for their middle school.  The original band room was a standard classroom, with little to no sound dampening, located directly adjacent to the principal’s office.  Instrument storage was open storage in the hallways.  The new safe room is located at the end of the existing middle school, with a connector corridor to the existing building.  The new FEMA grant funded addition gives the program a proper layout of space with appropriate ceiling heights and acoustical features while also serving the greater purpose of being a safe space for students to go in the event of severe weather.  In addition to a large classroom and performance space, it includes a mechanical room, restrooms, instrument storage space, and small practice rooms.  The design team added pyramidal diffusers to walls and ceilings to help improve the sound quality in the space.  Acoustical panels were also added to the walls, and used as a design feature.  The different color panels are laid out to show the C-Major and C-Pentatonic scales.  This fun and affordable feature was a way to incorporate school colors in an interesting and relevant musical pattern.