flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

LA high school takes design cue from historic Mexican architecture

LA high school takes design cue from historic Mexican architecture


August 11, 2010
This article first appeared in the 200910 issue of BD+C.

The Los Angeles Unified School District recently opened the $75 million Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez Learning Center, a high school in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Boyle Heights, near Little Tokyo. Designed by Nadel Architects in a joint venture with Barrio Planners Inc., the 114,000-sf school is vertically integrated, allowing the campus to fit on a compact, six-acre site. The architects incorporated traditional Mexican design features, including vibrant colors, bold geometric shapes, deeply recessed windows, and colonnades. The learning center consists of two, 500-student learning communities with courtyards that open into a central plaza. It is the first high school to open in East Los Angeles in more than 85 years.

Related Stories

K-12 Schools | Aug 13, 2021

A new P3 guide for K-12 school construction is released

This alternative financing isn’t a silver bullet, but it does provide options to cash-strapped districts.

Contractors | Jul 23, 2021

The aggressive growth of Salas O'Brien, with CEO Darin Anderson

Engineering firm Salas O'Brien has made multiple acquisitions over the past two years to achieve its Be Local Everywhere business model. In this exclusive interview for HorizonTV, BD+C's John Caulfield sits down with the firm's Chairman and CEO, Darin Anderson, to discuss its business model.

K-12 Schools | Jul 9, 2021

LPA Architects' STEM high school post-occupancy evaluation

LPA Architects conducted a post-occupancy evaluation, or POE, of the eSTEM Academy, a new high school specializing in health/medical and design/engineering Career Technical Education, in Eastvale, Calif. The POE helped LPA, the Riverside County Office of Education, and the Corona-Norco Unified School District gain a better understanding of which design innovations—such as movable walls, flex furniture, collaborative spaces, indoor-outdoor activity areas, and a student union—enhanced the education program, and how well students and teachers used these innovations.

K-12 Schools | Jun 29, 2021

A Maryland school system launches a P3 program to speed up K-12 school design, financing, and construction

Gilbane and Stantec are part of a consortium that breaks ground on six new schools this week.

Resiliency | Jun 24, 2021

Oceanographer John Englander talks resiliency and buildings [new on HorizonTV]

New on HorizonTV, oceanographer John Englander discusses his latest book, which warns that, regardless of resilience efforts, sea levels will rise by meters in the coming decades. Adaptation, he says, is the key to future building design and construction.

K-12 Schools | Jun 20, 2021

Los Angeles County issues design guidelines for extending PreK-12 learning to the outdoors

The report covers everything from funding and site prep recommendations to whether large rocks can be used as seating.

Wood | Jun 10, 2021

Three AEC firms launch a mass timber product for quicker school construction

TimberQuest brand seeks to avoid overinvestment in production that has plagued other CLT providers.

Digital Twin | May 24, 2021

Digital twin’s value propositions for the built environment, explained

Ernst & Young’s white paper makes its cases for the technology’s myriad benefits.

Daylighting | Mar 7, 2021

Texas intermediate school lets the sun really shine in

Solatube tubular daylighting devices bring sunlight into the two-story commons/media space for 600 students in grades 3-5 at Sunnyvale Intermediate School.

Market Data | Feb 24, 2021

2021 won’t be a growth year for construction spending, says latest JLL forecast

Predicts second-half improvement toward normalization next year.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category



K-12 Schools

Designing for dyslexia: How architecture can address neurodiversity in K-12 schools

Architects play a critical role in designing school environments that support students with learning differences, particularly dyslexia, by enhancing social and emotional competence and physical comfort. Effective design principles not only benefit students with dyslexia but also improve the learning experience for all students and faculty. This article explores how key design strategies at the campus, classroom, and individual levels can foster confidence, comfort, and resilience, thereby optimizing educational outcomes for students with dyslexia and other learning differences.


halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021