Even as the cost of the most expensive high school in state history was spiraling skyward this summer, Mayor David B. Cohen allowed the architect responsible for the Newton school's elaborate and costly design to quietly withdraw from active participation in the project.
Renowned Cambridge architect Graham Gund and his firm bowed out of an active role in the Newton North High School project in early August, according to a legal agreement signed by Cohen's building department leader.
The agreement was not well known in the city until this week, and its existence appeared to fuel the mounting criticism of the school project, which has jumped from an estimated $141 million last year to $186 million in recent weeks.
One of the city's aldermen, who has called for a vote of no confidence in Cohen, said he was stunned recently to learn of Gund's reduced role in the project after the firm was paid more than $3 million in fees. "This was Graham Gund's project . . . he put his imprimatur on it," said Alderman Paul Coletti. "I bet he is sitting on a beach in the Caribbean somewhere, laughing."
A spokesman for the city, however, said the transition - which put Gund's partner in the project, the firm Dore & Whittier of Newburyport, in the lead architectural role - was always planned.
"We didn't consider it particularly newsworthy," said Jeremy Solomon, spokesman for the mayor.
Critics have argued that Cohen has consistently low-balled the project's price in an effort to preserve Gund's spare-no-expense design. Gund's vision calls for a glass-walled cafeteria, a stadium, and an indoor swimming pool, and an unconventional zigzag shape that allows the 1,040-foot-long building - which is 200 feet longer than the Chestnut Hill Mall - to fit on the school's compact site in Newtonville.
Under the agreement, which was signed on Aug. 7 by Commissioner of Public Buildings Nicholas Parnell, Gund's title in the project is changed from "architect" to "design architect," while Dore & Whittier's title is changed from "associate architect" to "project architect."
The agreement also calls for Dore & Whittier to assume responsibility for the work of all design subcontractors and for distributing any payments from the city.
When the city selected the Gund/Dore & Whittier team in 2005, Gund, by far the more recognized of the two architects, called the Newton North High School job "the most important commission in our history."
Solomon defended the agreement, saying that once the construction phase of the project approached, Dore & Whittier, which specializes in the practicalities of school design, was always supposed to take over and translate Gund's vision into a workable design and plans.
He added that the city was also faced with having to pay Gund additional fees to attend public meetings, because the firm had already sent representatives to more meetings than were called for under the original contract.
Christa Mahar, Gund Partnership marketing director, backed the city's interpretation of events, saying that the agreement between Gund and Dore & Whittier is standard practice in the industry.
"We do this sort of arrangement all the time," Mahar said.
Both Solomon and Mahar said Gund will still be available to the city for consultation.
Cohen surprised aldermen last week when he announced that the cost for the Newton North High School project had soared by $45 million. During a campaign to persuade voters to support the Gund plan in a referendum early last year, Cohen had vowed that he would cap the project's cost at $141 million.
Cohen also said he would ask Newton residents for a Proposition 2 1/2 override this May that would hit owners of midpriced homes with an annual tax increase of at least $800. The mayor insisted, however, that the override was related to an operating deficit and had nothing to do with Newton North.
Alderman Ken Parker, who has formed an exploratory committee for a possible mayoral run against Cohen, said he is disappointed that Gund will no longer have to defend the design.
"It would be ironic if the person who made the design so unaffordable was abandoning his own project at a time like this," Parker said.
Not all of the city's aldermen, however, said they were surprised by the move. Alderwoman Amy Sangiolo said it was always her understanding that "Gund was going to do the first half and Dore & Whittier was going to do the second half."
Under an agreement with the state School Building Authority, Newton taxpayers will have to pay for all of the project's cost except for $46.5 million, which the board will receive as a state grant.
Solomon said the transition from Gund to Dore & Whittier as the primary architect was accelerated somewhat because Dore & Whittier needed to get to work so that the project could meet the state School Building Authority's deadline of July 1 for breaking ground.
Solomon said the city stands by its decision.
"It enabled the city to take advantage of the expertise of both firms," he said.
