| An independent K-8 school, Sequoyah is wedged between a freeway off-ramp and a major thoroughfare. Located on the planned route of the 710 freeway extension, the buildings were, until recently, slated for demolition. The school's expansion weaves into the existing campus fabric made up of craftsman and mid-century buildings and extends it into a formerly underused area. Designed around a place-based pedagogy that allows the students' relationship to the surrounding environment to inform teaching and learning, the project doubles the school’s classroom area within a cohesive new campus of multi-functional, flexible spaces.
Working on the project was something of a history lesson, as the architects collaborated with Sequoyah's landlord, CalTrans, to piece together a comprehensive picture of its architectural roots. The property includes the work of key Southern California figures, architects Smith and Williams, and landscape architect Garrett Eckbo. The new structures echo the spirit of the original architecture through scale, texture and organization, while providing a sustainable, contemporary interpretation for a new generation. Sequoyah School Expansion brings the campus's heritage into the sunlight while enabling the school to play a more permanent role in the community.
In addition to negotiating an entitlement process that straddled state and city jurisdictions, the architects collaborated with a range of client voices, including school faculty, administration, parents and students, as well as CalTrans, and the State Office of Historical Properties. The architects initially asked students for a list of their "wild dreams" of what the new campus would entail. The buildings' design was also integrated into curriculum. For example, students were introduced to the metric system and the Eames’ Powers of Ten by mapping their own 10m by10m slice of the campus for landmarks, activities, sights and sounds.
The new buildings are arranged in an L-shaped plan pressed against the freeway off-ramp to frame a generous central plaza. Covered outdoor corridors minimize the building mass, while providing sunshade and additional spaces for community interaction. Dual-story buildings accommodating classrooms and the art and science labs use an inverted truss ceiling system rising to the north to provide efficient day-lighting, and enable passive cooling and heating. Classrooms feature moveable partitions, spacious bay window lofts and exterior "study pods" in support of Sequoyah's flexible class configurations and focused student group work.
Across an intimate courtyard, a soaring one-story multi-purpose structure houses the theater and music programs, and converts into a generous all school assembly space. Expressed plywood clad roof trusses provide sound attenuation while rising to a clerestory that brings in ample daylight. An exterior wall slides open to an outdoor stage that addresses the central plaza for community-wide performances.
A system of downspouts, bridged open channels and spillways direct rain water from the standing-seam metal roofs to a rain garden of pebbles, boulders, grasses and a specimen sycamore. There, subterranean rain storage units allow water to filter and percolate at a pace where it can be absorbed by the landscape.
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