SEED SCHOOL, LOS ANGELES.
SEED School Los Angeles is a college-prep public charter boarding high school designed on an urban infill site in South Los Angeles. The schools program and spaces are designed to provides students with a pathway to college and career readiness by engaging in computer sciences, engineering, and studies of systems and societies through transportation infrastructure.
This weekly boarding school provides a 24 hour learning campus that is designed around three main courtyards. The academic spaces are oriented around two linear courtyards on the first floor while a raised courtyard on the second floor serves as the main open space for the entire school community to gather. The student dormitories, dining hall and faculty apartments are organized around this main space that provides opportunities for individual, small and larger groups to come together throughout the day to live, learn, work and play.
Pooja was associate principal, project director & co-designer at abode communities for this project. It is designed for the SEED Foundation and is the fourth school of it’s kind in USA.
images credits: abode communities; labtop
Aerial View of SEED School Los Angeles from Vermont Avenue, Los Angles
Entry Courtyard facing the Visitor Lobby on the Right, Classrooms on the Left with the Student Dining Courtyard above
View of the lobby facing the entry courtyard
The entrance lobby serves as a check-in and security portal before access to the seated lobby and entry courtyard.
Another view of the entry courtyard facing Vermont Avenue. The white administration wing above cantilevers to provide shade over the entry court. Native grasses provide a buffer between the classrooms and student circulation space.
The student library is designed with a variety of flexible seating to double serve as a learning center for individual and group learning with access to learning specialists, books and other media to provide access for multiple learning styles. The suspended felt ceiling, acoustic wall paneling and acoustic plaster are intentionally designed to absorb noise and create a focused study space.
The tall operable glazing provides natural light and ventilation to the classrooms facing the second courtyard on the ground level and facilitates student and teacher interactions throughout the day.
View of the student classroom facing the courtyard at the first floor.
The raised courtyard at the second floor is surrounded by student dormitories and dining commons.
This raised courtyard at the second floor is designed to encourage small and large group interactions & has individual learning spaces if desired. It serves as a primary open space for the school community to gather safely away from the noise and traffic along a busy and dense Vermont Ave.
The Dining Hall bookends the raised courtyard and allows the school community to gather around and with food both inside and outside to enjoy the Sothern California mild weather.
The raised courtyard overlooks the multipurpose hall with the opportunity to peek through the large oculus window at inter school basketball games.