San Diego, California
A master plan study for the 21st century campus of one of San Diego’s oldest schools in the historic Mission Hills neighborhood. Grant School is in the San Diego Unified School District and has recently been one of the highest achieving schools in the district. In the past two years this urban school has been converted from an elementary school to a K-8 school. The addition of the middle school grades on an already small elementary school campus has been a challenge in terms of programmed outdoor space. The existing campus is comprised of: a tired ‘70s era loft building where most of the classrooms have no windows for daylight or fresh air and the circulation pattern in the admin/library/cafetorium is chaotic at best; a new first thru third grade building, and; numerous portable/modular classrooms. The Grant School foundation commissioned a master plan study for the phased reconstruction of the campus. The goal of the study is: new classroom building layouts which are conducive to the educational curriculum; provide adequate programmed outdoor spaces that can also be used by the community; make an architecture that is reflective in a modern expression of the historic buildings of the demolished old campus and the historic single family neighborhood surroundings, and; create a campus which effectively takes advantage of the year round benign San Diego climate in terms of energy efficiency, outdoor circulation and programmed outdoor spaces.
