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Orthopaedic Hospital Medical Magnet High School
Los Angeles, California
Photography:
Jeff Goldberg, ESTO Photographics
Elizabeth Silver, R.L. Binder, FAIA, Architecture & Planning
2006 CMACN Awards Edition, “CMU Profiles in Architecture”
Jury Comments: The defensible site planning effort on this project was admirable. The future growth plans show great promise and forethought on a very tight urban site. The project appropriately flanks the street edges with the durable concrete masonry materials, which are well thought out. The focal point in the courtyard is the chain linked, vined, sunshaded lunch shelter that softens the courtyard and sets a good rhythm to the future buildings and courtyards to follow.
The design of the 90,000 square-foot 4 ½ acre, senior
medical magnet high school completes a full city block with
its neighbor and partner, Orthopaedic Hospital, and is the
first new Los Angeles public high school built in 35 years.
The school is designed around an “outdoor room”
created by the siting of the two primary buildings and a
“green” ivy wall. A planned 2nd phase includes a
third building punctuated by another courtyard sited to the
south on the “land-banked” surface parking
area.
The use of subtly patterned, burnished block, exposed both in the exterior and interior of the school, affords a legible academic mission and a sense of permanence, importance and quality, which the students and community respond to with care and pride. In addition to the image the CMU structures convey, they provide a durable, low-maintenance facility that is integrated with the neighboring hospital campus. The horizontally banded block pattern created through various course heights and coloration visually link the two institutions. The predominantly CMU buildings are a model of energy efficiency and economical sheer wall construction. The exposed block offers a wonderfully rich material palette and a means of orientation within the school.
The design intent is to create an intriguing, vandal-proof school that carves its own quiet environment from the city. The foil of the green-wall along Grand Avenue cloisters the outdoor courtyard from traffic and gives the streetscape a lush planted façade. The campus and courtyard are open to the Orthopaedic Hospital site to the west promoting and visually reinforcing the common mission of the larger Orthopaedic Hospital/LAUSD campus.
Architect:
R.L.
Binder, FAIA, Architecture & Planning
7726 81st Street
Playa del Rey, CA 90293
Rebecca
L. Binder, FAIA
Principal
Kim
A. Walsh, AIA
Principal
Design
Team:
Chilin Huang
Kevin Shibata
Timothy Young
Structural
Engineer:
Brandow & Johnston Associates
General
Contractor:
Hensel Phelps Construction
Masonry
Contractor:
Masonry Concepts, Inc.
Block
Producer:
Angelus Block Company, Inc.
Owner:
Los Angeles Unified School District
