The Discovery Building is a major addition to a 3000+ student high school. The multi-function, 5 level building includes learning suites, dining, parking and aquatics center. Classrooms wrap around a central courtyard with cascading bleacher stairs for informal gathering. Designed as a ‘loft’ building, it features a flexible column grid, raised floors for air, power and data and non-load bearing walls, reconfigurable over time. Sustainable features include a ‘living’ green wall, displacement ventilation, rooftop photovoltaic and solar thermal arrays.

The daylight-filled classrooms have operable glass walls to connect to outdoor terraces or interior common areas for varied learning experiences In contrast to single and double-loaded corridor layouts common in California, the six level Discovery Building has relatively deep floor plates that allow the clustering of spaces and activities in a greater variety of sizes and formats, supporting different modes of learning. In addition to generous classrooms and labs, there are a variety of breakout spaces that form a series of commons for small group. Project-based learning, team session, individual research and socializing. The program includes a computer center, community meeting rooms, a medically fragile suite for longer-term students with special needs, and a large textbook distribution center.

With open column grids and flat slabs, these spaces can be converted to other uses in the future. Maximizing natural light and air has led to a healthy building with operable windows, trickle vents, folding glass walls and huge overhead doors that emphasize transparency, openness and the seamless integration of indoor and outdoor spaces. The central courtyard, with its sweeping bleacher stairs and balconies connects the new building to the adjacent Centennial Plaza and welcomes students in. Body, mind and spirit are integrated into this new versatile project.

In addition to a variety of learning suites, social gathering areas and informal performance spaces, the new Discovery building includes a fully equipped aquatics center with a 50-meter swimming pool, heavily used for training and competitive sports by students throughout the District. Santa Monica High School has its own broader role in the City of Santa Monica, with a variety of school and non-school programs that bring the public onto campus throughout the year. Balancing off hours public access with normal daily security relies on smart campus planning, with clear, efficient movement of visitors from limited entry points to the particular venues for events.

Design for Change: A typical school building is designed for a 50-year life cycle but is often obsolete long before it is replaced. Using Open Building principles, the design team created a flexible, adaptable building that will accommodate frequent changes for at least 100 years, allowing teaching spaces to adapt incrementally and continuously to evolving pedagogy. By clearly distinguishing between a fixed shell and core and an infill system of non-structural partitions and by introducing a raised floor system for air supply, power and data, change is more manageable. From a financial perspective, the building will maintain its utility and flexibility for years to come.

The flat floor plate, regular column grid and high ceilings are also used in the parking garage, allowing for future uses supporting the social fabric of Santa Monica. The application of Open Building strategies led to the selection of certain systems – a prefabricated steel moment frame and a raised floor system to achieve long term resilience and adaptability. While these are premium systems, the additional costs represent less than 1 percent of the total construction cost and are already proving to be a valuable asset. The employment of a steel moment frame structure means there are no shear walls within the overall building footprint, so spaces can be easily reconfigured. Data, power and floor diffusers for air distribution can easily be rearranged within the raised floor, responding to incremental change, even if it is related to the needs and desires of a single instructor. Design for Energy: The sustainable strategies that have been incorporated into this project give the building a distinctive presence; the building’s orientation, massing and layout have, in turn shaped these strategies to create a holistic solution. The courtyard with its two-story living wall combines passive strategies that allow the building to breath and achieve natural cooling while bringing day lighting deep into the building.

At the same time, it creates a versatile social gathering space and extends the life of adjacent Centennial Plaza. It creates program space in the most economical way possible. The photo-voltaic arrays which offset power from the grid by 34%, take the form of a highly visible canopy hovering 15 feet above the roof and providing economical shelter for the rooftop outdoor classroom. Its visibility and clarity of its exposed systems becomes an important teaching tool. Similarly, the solar thermal array (which offsets 13% of pool heating demands and can be expanded to supply an optimal 50% of energy needs) becomes a prominent cap to the living wall and point to a more extensive array which helps to reduce the heating load of the swimming pool below.

All of the outdoor spaces are accessible, well connected to adjacent indoor spaces and readily available to all students and staff and are designed with the same palette of hardscape and plant materials. Design for Wellness: This building is designed to promote fitness and health. All the outdoor spaces which surround and extend social and learning opportunities are accessible, well connected to adjacent indoor spaces and readily available to all students and staff. They are designed with the same unifying palette of hardscape and plant materials to promote shade and comfort. Health is promoted through natural ventilation and / or trickle vents (in the building elevations close to the adjacent freeway, to protect air quality) in all the perimeter classrooms. The building is also flooded with ample natural light in all the perimeter instructional spaces. The raised floors deliver displacement ventilation which is quieter and inherently healthier than conventional ceiling distribution systems.

The cafeteria promotes healthy eating and eventually will have a connection to the production of food. The roof level is a fully accessible, 3,500 square foot outdoor classroom. Planned for the near future are aquaria, raised planter beds and a weather station that will help student understand food sources explore environmental issues. Fitness and movement are encouraged by the building design. The positioning of this six-level building on a hillside means the main entry court is at mid-level and generous stairs and bleachers in the courtyard and at the perimeter of the building promote movement and minimize the use of elevators. The outdoor aquatic center sits adjacent three levels of instructional spaces, making a strong connection between physical and academic activity.

Encourage Learning: The program and siting of the new building embody the integration of body, mind and spirit. The ‘U’-shaped building surrounds a courtyard which embodies the collective informal spirit of the school and its students; the building itself stresses innovative learning with a variety of classrooms intermixed with learning commons, community spaces and amenities. Three levels of classrooms overlook the 50-meter pool and its classes, accommodating the high school students during the day, younger students from elementary and middle schools in the District taking swimming lessons and adults from the community coming during off hours for recreation and training.

Category:Green ArchitectureAward Year:2024Location: Santa Monica, California, USAArchitects:Moore Ruble Yudell Architects and PlannersLead Architect:James Mary O’ConnorExecutive Architects:Harley Ellis Devereaux ArchitectsDesign Team:John Dale, Takuji Mukaiyama, and John RubleClient:Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School DistrictPhotographers:Inessa Binenbaum