When Pine-Richland High School students returned to classes last month, 1,466 crowded through the front doors and into a building designed for 1,500.

The crowding will be alleviated -- eventually.

Plans to expand and renovate the building at 700 Warrendale Road in Pine are on the drawing board now. Construction is to begin next year, and the new and improved spaces are expected to be ready for use in the 2012-13 school year.

"Currently, every classroom is being used," said Pine-Richland communications director Rachel Hathhorn. "The district has been making adjustments to address the near-capacity enrollment by freeing up space for classrooms."

For instance, the faculty dining room was moved to the library work room, and the student activities area moved into the former faculty dining room. That freed up space in Room 114 -- formerly used for student activities -- for a language arts classroom.

"That was just one of the moves the district made," Ms. Hathhorn said. "In all, seven more classrooms were gained through this type of transition."

The crowding comes as no surprise.

In 2007, a task force committee was formed to determine whether a high school expansion was warranted. The committee, made up of community members, administrators, staff and students, recommended -- and Pine-Richland school board approved -- a demographic study of the district by Shelby Stewman, professor of demography and sociology at Carnegie Mellon University. That study projected a 48 percent growth in enrollment in 10 years, from 1,383 students in 2007 to 2,047 in 2017.

Using that data, the committee presented its report in July 2008 with 13 recommendations to the school board.

Among its recommendations: keep ninth- through 12th-grade in the high school rather than move ninth grade to the middle school; expand music and art areas; increase science laboratory space; expand the central administrative office; construct a safe bus loop; preserve athletic field space; build a new gymnasium; and expand the high school pool.

It also suggested structuring small learning communities to create a small school environment within a large high school; continuing with technological advances; economizing the use of space; making safety and security a high priority; and designing an area for student activities, tutoring and student collaboration.

The school board put additional classrooms and lab space at the top of the list. Other priorities included additional cafeteria space and building a new bus loading and unloading area.

Eckles Architecture and Engineering, of New Castle, which has worked with the district for nearly two decades and designed the original high school, did a feasibility study at no cost to the district. Eckles' principal Dan Engen met with the board, administrators, teachers, students and community members to put together the study he presented Aug. 4. He estimated the project cost at $35 million to $42 million but emphasized that is an early figure.

Mr. Engen presented two options for an addition to the science, technology and math classrooms. The school board voted to put the addition on the northwest section of the school instead of building a southern annex, which would have displaced the school's tennis courts.

The study also called for renovations and additions affecting the cafeteria and kitchen; the offices for guidance, the nurse and administration; and classrooms for art, music and telecommunications. The second phase encompasses the gymnasium/fitness areas, library and art department.

The school board voted unanimously to hire Eckles as architect for the project.