| Del Sol High School was designed to reflect a community of learners who are ready to hit the work force, while simultaneously preparing them for an academic career after high school, whether through community college, university, or trade-specific education. This new high school was designed to serve as the model for future district schools, redesigned with the future of learning in mind, while granting students the option to enter the workforce immediately with the proper skills to do so. Flexible learning spaces are the final result with open rooms connected together, tied to adjacent hallways, along with courtyard spaces for collaborative learning.
Del Sol High School is designed to serve as a facility flexible enough to adapt to changing pedagogies for the next 50+ years. This includes movable walls both for collaborative learning, expansion, and change in the future. As mentioned above, the school is designed to be a next generation facility that goes “from Guggenheim to Google” where traditional topics and teaching styles can be used in a modern facility that reflects the world’s current technology, while still remaining flexible enough to change with the evolution of teaching and learning that will occur in the coming years.
Outside of the classroom environment, additional campus facilities can also be utilized by the community. From large sports fields, track and field facilities, to the new gymnasium and state-of-the-art aquatic facility, all campus facilities are available to the surrounding Oxnard community. In addition, the performing arts facility is directly adjacent to a parking lot for use in theatrical productions, worship, local events, or significantly large meetings, while ensuring minimal disruption and safety to the remainder of the campus.
The building’s elevation is designed to reflect the city of Oxnard, with illustrious colors and panels intended to mimic the agricultural fields from a birds-eye perspective, up to 30,000 feet in the air. As such, if Oxnard transitions from an agricultural to a more residential suburban area, the elevation of the high school will still pay homage to the rich, deep-rooted history of the city. To ensure utmost safety on campus, a single, electronically controlled point of entry will be accessible and will feature a series of perimeter fencing surrounding the facility. The buildings surrounding the perimeter will open to a gorgeous courtyard and educational mall to further enhance the district’s goals of community and collaboration.
The new campus features countless sustainable features aligned with the district’s objectives to high performance and minimal environmental impact. The orientation of the main building reduces solar gain while maximizing natural light, with countless windows incorporated throughout the campus to maximize natural daylighting. These numerous windows can be found in almost every space and are shrouded by perforated metal panels to filter as much light as possible while simultaneously reducing solar gain and glare. Drought tolerant, native vegetation will also be placed throughout the campus to limit water use, along with artificial turf in both the football and baseball fields in to conserve water and reduce the need for grass replacement.
|
