Thinking outside the box, LPA Inc. is designing a school inside a box. With an emphasis on three E’s—Engage, Educate, and Empower—e3 Civic High is now being constructed on the sixth and seventh floors of a public library in downtown San Diego. Library patrons will be able to see into the school via glass elevators, but will not have physical access to the school.
Learning studios at e3 have been organized in “villages” that are clustered around a shared commons and teaming rooms. To foster impromptu “collisions” of students, faculty, and staff, the design employs a number of strategic spaces:
• Entry – Deliberately leaving out an enclosed lobby and central administration area, visitors enter directly into the school.
• The Park – Supported by controllable lighting, soft furniture, and technology integration, this “living room” setting can also double as a studio space.
• The Plaza – An active gathering space for presentation, performance, and dining.
• Steps – The central staircase connecting the two floors doubles as a social learning space, a circulation route, studio, physical education area, and a place for industry speakers to engage with students.
• Interactive Wall – Linking the villages, the Interactive/Living Wall is a space that students can write on, post displays, or even sit on.
• Gallery – Lined with whiteboard surfaces and specialty lighting, the centrally located gallery provides a blank canvas for students to curate.
The project is tracking LEED Gold certification.
For more on the project, visit: http://blog.lpainc.com/lpa-blog/bid/95713/Urban-Education-The-story-behind-e3-Civic-High-Part-2.
Related Stories
| Aug 25, 2014
Tall wood buildings: Surveying the early innovators
Timber has been largely abandoned as a structural solution in taller buildings during the last century, in favor of concrete and steel. Perkins+Will's Rebecca Holt writes about the firm's work in surveying the burgeoning tall wood buildings sector.
| Aug 25, 2014
'Vanity space' makes up large percentage of world's tallest buildings [infographic]
Large portions of some skyscrapers are useless space used to artificially enhance their height, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.
| Aug 25, 2014
Photographer creates time-lapse video of 1 WTC using 30,000 photos
Choosing from 30,000 photos he took from the day construction began in 2006 to the day when construction was finished in 2012, Brooklyn-based photographer Benjamin Rosamund compressed 1,100 photos to create the two-minute video.
| Aug 25, 2014
Glazing plays key role in reinventing stairway design
Within the architectural community, a movement called "active design" seeks to convert barren and unappealing stairwells originally conceived as emergency contingencies into well-designed architectural focal points. SPONSORED CONTENT
| Aug 25, 2014
An easy trick for minimizing construction delays
About one out of every three construction projects is behind schedule or over budget, according to the Construction Industry Institute's Assessment of Owner Project Management Practices and Performance survey. SPONSORED CONTENT
| Aug 22, 2014
Before & After: Hospital upgrade shows shifting needs in healthcare construction
Community Hospice of Northeast Florida took an outdated 10-bed inpatient hospice unit and created a space that would meet the needs of patients receiving end of life care by creating a place that felt like home.
| Aug 22, 2014
Spireworks app lets users control a piece of the New York skyline
Mark Domino, the son-in-law of developer Douglas Durst, has developed an app, called Spireworks, that allows anyone with a smartphone to change the color of a building's lights.
| Aug 21, 2014
Ranked: Top science and technology sector AEC firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
HDR, Affiliated Engineers, and Skanska top BD+C's rankings of the nation's largest S+T sector design and construction firms.
| Aug 21, 2014
Ranked: Top convention center AEC firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Gensler, AECOM, and Hunt Construction top BD+C's rankings of the nation's largest convention center design and construction firms.
| Aug 21, 2014
Apartment construction hits 25-year high
The boost to apartment construction suggests that job gains are encouraging the creation of households.
