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 | Nov 1, 2022
Safety is the abiding design priority for K-12 schools
With some exceptions, architecture, engineering, and construction firms say renovations and adaptive reuse make up the bulk of their work in the K-12 schools sector.
BAS and Security | Oct 19, 2022
The biggest cybersecurity threats in commercial real estate, and how to mitigate them
Coleman Wolf, Senior Security Systems Consultant with global engineering firm ESD, outlines the top-three cybersecurity threats to commercial and institutional building owners and property managers, and offers advice on how to deter and defend against hackers.
Education Facilities | Oct 13, 2022
A 44-acre campus serves as a professional retreat for public-school educators in Texas
A first-of-its-kind facility for public schools in Texas, the Holdsworth Center serves as a retreat for public educators, supporting reflection and dialogue.
K-12 Schools | Sep 21, 2022
Architecture that invites everyone to dance
If “diversity” is being invited to the party in education facilities, “inclusivity” is being asked to dance, writes Emily Pierson-Brown, People Culture Manager with Perkins Eastman.
| Sep 7, 2022
K-8 school will help students learn by conducting expeditions in their own communities
In August, SHP, an architecture, design, and engineering firm, broke ground on the new Peck Expeditionary Learning School in Greensboro, N.C. Guilford County Schools, one of the country’s 50 largest school districts, tapped SHP based on its track record of educational design.
Giants 400 | Sep 1, 2022
Top 100 K-12 School Contractors and CM Firms for 2022
Gilbane, Core Construction, Skanska, and Balfour Beatty head the ranking of the nation's largest K-12 school sector contractors and construction management (CM) firms for 2022, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Sep 1, 2022
Top 70 K-12 School Engineering + EA Firms for 2022
AECOM, Jacobs, WSP, and CMTA top the ranking of the nation's largest K-12 school sector engineering and engineering/architecture (EA) firms for 2022, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Sep 1, 2022
Top 160 K-12 School Architecture + AE Firms for 2022
PBK, DLR Group, Huckabee, and Stantec head the ranking of the nation's largest K-12 school sector architecture and architecture/engineering (AE) firms for 2022, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
| Aug 24, 2022
California’s investment in ‘community schools’ could transform K-12 education
California has allocated $4.1-billion to develop ‘community schools’ that have the potential to transform K-12 education.
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2022
Top 90 Construction Management Firms for 2022
CBRE, Alfa Tech, Jacobs, and Hill International head the rankings of the nation's largest construction management (as agent) and program/project management firms for nonresidential and multifamily buildings work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.