GREEN DOT ANIMO LEADERSHIP HIGH SCHOOL BY BROOKS + SCARPA ARCHITECTS


Brooks + Scarpa Architects

This new public school for 500 students is located in a tough South Los Angeles neighborhood almost directly under the flight path into LAX and adjacent to the very busy 105 Century freeway.

Brooks + Scarpa Architects

The design was influenced by the New Orleans architects Curtis and Davis who designed and built many schools in the early 1950s in Louisiana.

Brooks + Scarpa Architects

Their designs adapted to the harsh southern climate without using air conditioning, creating sustainable light filled and poetic spaces for kids to learn.

Brooks + Scarpa Architects

Similarly, this project is designed to enhance passive sustainable strategies. It allows for abundant natural light, ventilation and view, while shading itself and inducing airflow.

Brooks + Scarpa Architects

The south facade is clad with 650 solar panels that shade the building and provides 75% of the energy needs for the school. 
Brooks + Scarpa Architects
Implementing these strategies will reduce carbon emissions by over 3 million pounds.

Brooks + Scarpa Architects

With a project target of CHPS and/or LEED Certification at the minimum, aesthetics, sustainability, and cost-effectiveness were considered in every design decision.

Brooks + Scarpa Architects

Taking full advantage of the region’s temperate climate, the designers eschewed the fully contained “big box” idiom of conventional schools on the primary use site.

Brooks + Scarpa Architects

Instead, a landscaped courtyard with multifunctional “bleacher” terracing flows into the open-air covered lobby and the multilayered paseo, lending the school the appeal of a collegiate campus.

Brooks + Scarpa Architects

This solution give the significant environmental benefits — improving daylighting and access to fresh air both inside and out — while providing substantial cost savings by limiting artificial lighting and thermal conditioning to the smaller enclosed spaces.

Brooks + Scarpa Architects
Brooks + Scarpa Architects 

Brooks + Scarpa Architects
Brooks + Scarpa Architects 
Location: Los Angeles County, USA 
Principal In Charge: Lawrence Scarpa, FAIA 
Project Architect: Angela Brooks, AIA, Mark Buckland, Ching Luk 
Project Team: Brad Buter, Silke Clemens, Emily Hodgdon, Gwynne Pugh, Sri Sumantri 
Engineering: Thorton Thomassetti-Structural 
Area: 53,500 sq ft 
Cost: $ 17,300,000 
Year: 2013 
Client: Green Dot Public Charter Schools 
Photo: John Linden

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