Johnson Creek High School and Middle School

Aerial view of Johnson Creek school campus.

Aerial view of the five Monolithic Dome campus shows the middle school, administration, and high school domes closest to the parking lot — with skylights on each dome. The cafeteria and gymnasium domes are the larger domes in the back.

Joshua Crandall

Johnson Creek High School and Middle School is a campus of five Monolithic Domes in Johnson Creek, Wisconsin. The school houses 500 students from grades 5 to 12. It replaced the aging school characterized as having “leaky roofs, antiquated facilities, classrooms in double-wide trailers.” The total project cost the district $8.9 million. The design and use of domes saved the district an estimated $8 million, not to mention ongoing savings in heating and cooling the school.

The cafeteria and gymnasium domes are 160 feet (48.8 m) diameter by 30 feet (9.2 m) tall on 11 foot (3.4 m) stem walls. Each dome encompasses 20,100 (1,870 m²) of floor area. The gymnasium dome contains a competition court gym floor with retractable bleachers to expose a double-wide practice court. The dome includes a weight training fitness room, concession stand, public restrooms, officials room, two boys locker rooms, and two girls locker rooms.

The cafeteria dome encloses the “cafetorium,” a multi-purpose space for students to each lunch or assemble for school performances and other assemblies. The cafeteria dome also includes a teacher’s lounge, a kitchen, the cafetorium stage, a physics lab, a metal shop, a woodshop, and a domestic science classroom.

The three smaller domes are 140 feet (42.7 m) diameter by 26.5 feet (8 m) tall on 11 foot (3.4 m) stem walls—each encompassing 15,400 square feet (1,430 m²) of floor area. Each dome has a central, large skylight for natural light in the large, common center of each dome. The administration dome includes the district administration offices, meeting rooms, the art classroom, music room with instrument storage, and a graphics/technology lab. The center rotunda is the school’s library.

The high school dome contains six classrooms, a science lab, an agricultural education lab, a business education classroom, and a special education classroom. While the middle school dome—on the other side of the administration dome—contains nine classrooms, two science labs, and a special education classroom. Student lockers are in the central rotunda of both school domes.

Conventionally constructed structures connect each dome together and encompass restrooms, mechanical spaces, and various storage rooms. The total size of the five Monolithic Dome campus including the conventional structures is 100,800 square feet (9,365 m²).

The district broke ground on the project on May 18, 2014, and opened for the 2016-17 school year.

In 2020, the district began adding three more Monolithic Domes to be an elementary school. When complete, the Johnson Creek school will be a K12 facility.