Square Footage
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136,800 square feet |
Program/Scope
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This project consists of a three-story classroom building including 56 classrooms and a library, a two-story administration building including a multipurpose room and food service, and a two-story gymnasium building. |
Budget / Construction Cost
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$20 million |
Project Description
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The project site is bounded by the new Southeast Area High School, located to the east, and the Alameda rail corridor, located along the west edge of the site. Siting the school’s facilities to the extreme east of the project site provides distance from the Alameda rail corridor and maximizes available land for playfields. The problem then is "buffering" the adjacency of the High School from the Middle School. The secure faculty parking and services for both the Middle School and the High School are placed back to back to act as a virtual "no student zone." This creates a physical as well as a visual buffer. Additionally, the two distinct campus plans are rotated slightly away from each other to enhance the buffer. At the same time, the street edge at the front of the campus is unified, yet distinct.
The classroom wing is primarily oriented north to south to reduce street noise and to maximize daylighting on the exterior walls. Furthermore, the community-oriented functions (i.e. library, administration, and multipurpose) are placed as a triangular node at the main campus entry.
Exterior meeting space is not specifically programmed, yet in the design of the Middle School, we placed an emphasis on outdoor learning environments. The campus circulation system developed around established axial relationships. These relationships activate and engage the architecture. Incorporated into the L-shaped, three story classroom wing is a partially covered outdoor learning space. The learning space is located on the second floor and has open stairs oriented to the central campus court. The second floor looks out over the playfields to the west and provides not only outdoor learning desired for teaching, but also breaks up the building massing, reduces overall corridor lengths and provides a gathering focal point for the students.
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