Los Altos High School Classroom Facility
The new 58,600 square foot Los Altos High School Classroom Facility replaces aging portables and a 1950s classroom wing that were isolated from the campus. These buildings functioned poorly and were anathema to the school’s high academic program. Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, the new one and two-story LEED Silver facility’s features include:
- 23-flexible classrooms with abundant daylight, robust technology and views to landscape courtyards and shared circulation spaces.
- Five Science and Applied Engineering labs with large rollup glass doors to a shared courtyard.
- Internal circulation for a highly daylit student experience including second floor cutouts, creating a visual connection between floors and first-floor daylighting.
- Circular skylights for even daylight distribution, and a sense of playfulness as a departure from typical institutional school corridors.
- New athletic facility including auxiliary gym.
Using a mix of one and two-story construction interwoven with landscaped courtyards, the design solution creates a feeling of spaciousness. The prolific use of daylight, including whimsical circular skylights in circulation areas, provides a welcome relief of natural light and connection to nature and further supports the sense of openness, despite the small site size. Even with the substantial number of classrooms and labs, nearly each shares views and vistas to the landscaped courtyards, creating a sense of community.