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Alvarado Middle School Administration/Media
Center/Severely Disabled Classroom Buildings win an Award of Merit
in the Project-in-Design Category of the 2008 CASH/AIACC Leroy
F. Greene Design and Planning Awards Program. This project includes
3 diverse elements: a library, administrative offices and special
education classrooms. A key challenge was to express the buildings’ sustainable
practices in their exterior form in a visually compelling and exciting
manner, while maintaining organizational clarity.
The project was divided into 3 separate buildings,
each housing one of the 3 key program functions: the library on the
north side, closer to the student quad; the administration building
in the center, where its entrance is emphasized by flanking lower
massing; and the special education building to the south, in a quieter
zone. Walkways and landscaped areas occupy the spaces between buildings
to provide multiple access points between the parking lot and the
main part of the campus, as well as allow the buildings more exposure
to natural light.
The massing of all 3 buildings is similar, with
a single-pitch roof rising toward the north. A metal roof supporting
photo-voltaic panels caps all the buildings with a large cantilever
on the south and west to provide shade as well as cover for students
waiting to be picked up on the parking lot side. The massing over
the main entrance to the administration building deviates from this
strategy, where a long, sloping cantilevered roof with translucent
panels, rises toward the front to greet visitors.Most of the north
sides contain a high window wall to admit natural light, with the
structural braced frames visible behind the glazing.The southern
windows are low, protected by a deep overhang, while on the east
and west, glazing is very limited, mostly as compositional elements.
Maximum transparency is provided on the interior of the library
and administration building through window walls. The windows foster
a feeling of openness, allow users to have visual contact with each
other, provide good supervision and bring natural light from one
space into another.
Visually, this project is a major departure from
the existing campus, which consists mostly of portable classrooms,
which will be replaced over time. The 3 buildings form an exciting
and dynamic composition at the front of the school, setting the theme
for subsequent construction.
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