High Tech High Bayshore

Redwood City, California

Firm

DES Architects + Engineers

Client

High Tech High Learning

Area

60,000 sq.ft.

Total Cost

$3,000,000

Completion Date

08/2005

The challenge was to transform a 1962 warehouse into a contemporary educational space for an innovative public charter school.
The programmatic requirement was to design classrooms that support intensive, project-based learning and a space that encourages open interaction and inquiry.
Classrooms are set up for wireless laptop computing, Internet access and a projection system, and have built-in, multifunctional “teaching walls.” Windows in classrooms and adjoining teachers’ offices encourage collaboration and provide a view throughout the open circulation space. Shared spaces include an expansive commons, a central gallery to exhibit student artwork and open studios throughout the building.
High clerestory windows offered a significant design challenge. The solution was to build internal classroom walls just above the ceiling height, so natural light could penetrate the central areas of the building. These classroom blocks are expressed as objects in the space through the use of color.
The original wood trusses posed a major constraint because they must remain intact to support the barrel-vault roof. The solution was to make small openings in the interior walls so the trusses could pass through.

“Filled with an electric sense of lines, colors, and free and open space.”–2007 jury