Completion Date:     8/1/2014

Square Footage:      412000

Building Use:           High School

Location:                 San Marcos, California

Project Description:

Design Context
The prominent 45.3 acre site location is bounded by retail to the north and west the site falls approximately 40’ and drains to San Marcos creek, and existing residential communities to the south. The multi- story architecture of the academic building creates a new identity for the community on the north, while defining the quad and opening south and east facing classrooms toward views of the valley and open hillsides.
Design Challenges
The challenge is the transformation of an existing single story, 2,300-student radial plan campus into a 21st century multi-story educational facility with only one point of vehicular access/egress is permitted by the city.
Design Solution
Students, parents, educators and administrators participated in a charrette to design this School and all placed a large quad as the heart of the campus to promote a strong feeling of community. The campus planning strategy stacks program vertically to maximize available outdoor space for social gathering, activities and athletics. A three and four story academic building defines two sides of the main quad. This building is organized in a live/work strata: the ground level is dedicated to spaces that support student life, administration, library, food service, and student services, while the upper floors are dedicated to academics. The Athletic Center uses the topography to create primary access at the second level. The north-facing lobbies of Athletics and Performing Arts Centers are defined with glass and glow as a beacon to the community. Both share the Festival Court with the stadium to create a celebratory public space for school events, and are anchored by Knight Tower.

A steel gravity system and cast in place concrete lateral system provide an open ground floor with operable glazed doors to maximize indoor/outdoor relationships to the main quad. Academic levels are defined with a dark plaster frame infilled with glass and trex. The remaining campus is composed of tilt-up concrete panels in composition with trex to provide warmth and human scale.

Sustainable Features
• Recipient of $328,000 Savings by Design incentives
• Exceeds California Title-24 2008 standards by approximately 25.3%
• Without on-site renewable energy sources, the Project exceeds its 2030 Challenge benchmark by 56%, ahead of the 2030 commitment levels at the time of design
• Extensive use of exposed architectural concrete, including flooring, providing durable, resource efficient structure and finish while promoting energy efficiency through exposed thermal mass
• Concrete mixes throughout the project incorporate 20 to 40% flyash offsetting use of Portland cement
• Passive conditioning of stairwells and circulation spaces
• 2500 seat, three court gym includes extensive daylighting, no mechanical cooling systems, and high volume low speed fans to enhance comfort and promote energy efficiency
• High-efficiency water-cooled central chiller plant and boiler plant along with a DDC Energy Management System
• Low flow plumbing fixtures, drought tolerant landscaping and high efficiency irrigation reduce demand for potable water
• Bio-swales at site perimeter and campus quad retain and filter 100% of stormwater run-off
• Sustainable strategies are described to students with signage and interactive displays

C.O.T.E. | Committee on the Environment

Download