The new Patriot High School, located just west of downtown Riverside, California was completed this past spring. The 214,000 SF facilities are the physical realization of the Jurupa Unified School District’s educational mission and desire to elevate facilities standards for their students and faculty. A number of design options were presented to the owner. The project design selected by the district is the “urban village� scheme, which is represented by the dynamic arrangement of educational facilities centered around a public outdoor assembly space.
In the past, the school district created new high school facilities by reusing plans for another California school. This process was disappointing and resulted in a high school that did not adequately respond to the needs of the school district. The district decided early on in this new planning process that it was necessary to develop an entirely new educational specification. The educational specification phase resulted in the following key components that were incorporated into the design of the new facilities:
- Larger classrooms that allow for teaching flexibility
- Natural lighting is a priority in ALL classrooms
- Classrooms should be “Laboratories for Learning�
- Integrated computer technology is critical in every classroom
- Flexibility will allow alternative educational philosophies to be easily integrated
- spaces should be given the “top priority�
During the planning and design process, the district concentrated on two primary goals: create classrooms that are true “learning laboratories� and explore community use possibilities with the Jurupa community. The community facilities include a 400 seat theater with full fly loft, athletic fields/facilities, and a larger library with separate student and public entrances. The community components have been located on the campus in a way that allows the community to easily recognize their access to the facilities.
The highest priority for the new learning spaces was to make the classrooms the best they could be. This is accomplished by increasing the size of the standard classroom to 1150 SF, and by designing flexible classrooms with operable walls that allow for 2300 SF learning environments. Every classroom can function as an art, science, or math classroom, depending on the needs of the school. This flexibility will allow the school to develop an integrated educational approach and accommodate fluctuating curriculum requirements. In addition, small group environments and support spaces are located throughout the campus to support multiple types of learning, including small learning communities and departmentalized instruction.
By creating building layouts that function either as departmental classroom groupings or as grade level groupings (small learning communities) formed around a central courtyard, the district will be better able to respond to changing educational philosophies. For instance, with science labs concentrated in both classroom buildings, the science department is able to function separately, or as an integrated subject course within each grade level. In addition to the flexibility of the design, the classrooms incorporate light shelves and natural ventilation to create an environment that enhances the learning potential of the students.
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