St. Anthony Tri-Parish Catholic School

Casper, WY

The three Catholic parishes in Casper, Wyoming had outgrown their existing PreK-9 school, and were looking to construct a new school to meet their growing needs. Longwell + Trapp Architects were selected for this project due to our ten years of value engineering K-12 education facilities throughout the state. In Wyoming, the average public school costs between $250- $325 per square foot (sf) with additional funding for construction provided by the state to leverage expense. However, St. Anthony’s status as a private school prevents it from receiving the state funding. As such, our reputation as a value engineering firm was tested. Our cost-effective design ran at $175 per sf, well below the average cost of other Wyoming public schools.

However, this drop in cost did not limit the design. The parishes requested a traditional, Catholic school design made of brick and stone, with cornices, arches, and stain glass windows. The buildings layout features a two story design for the classroom wings, a full size gymnasium, a multi-purpose room with a stage, chapel, full service kitchen, and an administrative area. The building is also highly energy efficient through daylighting, lighting controls, a ground source heat pump, additional insulation in the walls and ceilings, and high energy efficient windows.