La Cañada High

Narratives

Architect Narrative

-On a high school campus an addition was contemplated which would allow several different user groups to come together. The library was proposed to act as a hinge between the existing high school, a new middle school presence, and the public who would be given access to the library and media center.

In our proposal for the campus, we considered the spaces between the buildings to be almost more important than the buildings themselves. At a high school, as well as at the new middle school presence, spaces are loosely allocated allowing for inventiveness on the part of the students. Existing circulation axis are preserved, extended and articulated with planters that are benches, platforms, landscape, and other amenities that facilitate impromptu discussions and gathering.

The space between the two buildings continues an existing alley between buildings that exists just east of our site. This connects now to a public drop-off circle to the West, while also connected to the main quad to the South with a new path that cuts diagonally to the main elevator tower and platform of the classroom building.

The 3-story classroom building is equipped with open walkways that connect to other similarly scaled adjacent buildings. These walkways open to the courtyard between the buildings reinforcing the collective nature of the space. The classroom building on the North is enclosed with a sloping, full-height wall of storefront glass, bringing glare-free natural light and a view to the neighboring mountains to each classroom interior.

The library also utilizes north-facing glass in a gently curving wall. The interior of the library is bright yet soft and quiet. The wall of glass connects the activity of the library visually and conceptually to the campus outside. The previous home of the library on the campus was a small, dark, sealed building raised on pilotes. It was important that the new library take a more active stance in relation to the day-to-day life of the campus.

The interior of the library presented a challenge in meshing supervision concerns with the large program they desired. An open plan with mezzanine spaces was utilized to give the library staff complete visual connection to all spaces from the circulation desk near the entry to the building.

The project in its completed state now represents a tightly woven presence on the new campus that unites at a critical spot, high school students, middle school students, and the public. The project recognizes existing patterns of movement on the campus in choosing this new situation. A goal was to recognize the need for individuation on the campus, the need for students to begin to make their own choices and define their own space. Therefore, simultaneously, we are aggressive in providing “apparatus” without tightly programming how it should be used. Finally, the spaces are intended to inspire with the use of natural light and through a vision of the world outside.