The challenge of building this “school within a school” is finding the balance between creating a strong sense of identity for this specialized new campus and fostering an inclusive environment where eSTEM and ERHS students alike feel welcome. This quotient informs the program, building and site design. But as important as the connection between campuses, is the great sensitivity to respecting the privacy of immediately adjacent neighboring homes, complicating this balancing act.

Program:
The overarching themes established during programming were collaboration, access, partnership and flexibility. As a result, learning studios are flexible as possible to allow for multiple teaching modalities and the ability to evolve with future unknowns. Health/medical and engineering labs; while completely open, connected and zoned largely by furniture, ceiling changes, casework, minimal partial-height and operable walls; are outfitted to recreate real-world environments. They are connected to, and integrated with, both learning studios and shared colabs to allow for interdisciplinary collaboration. Think “spark” tanks can be found sprinkled throughout campus to offer opportunities to do the same on a smaller, more intimate scale. Outdoor labs take many forms, including floating learning pods, and can be found on each floor of this multi-story campus. The combination of numerous, dispersed, and varied learning spaces of all kinds, coupled with visibility and access, encourages learning and collaboration to happen everywhere.

Design Solution:
A building fostering STEM education should be a teaching tool in and of itself. The architecture responds appropriately to sun, wind, and surrounding context; the building systems are exposed and celebrated; and the site clearly and elegantly demonstrates its response to storm water treatment is service that must be paid to the bright minds dedicated to learning in it.

Extensive site analysis was performed not only by the architectural and engineering design team, but by a wind consultant as well, due to the site’s high valley location. The northern building wing rotates 10-degrees clockwise to protect the internal campus courtyard from harsh Santa Ana winds while screens on the west side of campus mitigate strong prevailing breezes. The building’s east-west orientation maximizes northern daylighting, strategic screening elements minimize heat gain and glare from the south and visibility to the westerly houses. Operable windows encourage airflow through learning spaces to supplement the mechanical system. The campus collects storm water from the building roofs and quad and treats it within infiltration planters strategically located around the site, cleansing water prior to leaving the campus.