This project will continue our work in providing holistic design for under-resourced communities, creating vibrant learning environments that connect students to each other, the school to the community, and the site to the environment at large. This vision is at the heart of our design for 49th Street Elementary, guided by the planning principle of an “Education Oasis.”
The school, located in the historic South Park region of Los Angeles, is poised for transformation. The surrounding area, anchored by the South Park Recreational Center, otherwise lacks sufficient green spaces. Our design aims to change that, creating a sanctuary within the city and open space for the community.
Our plan blends the indoors and outdoors by creating a series of outdoor learning environments that create synergies with buildings to support student’s academic, and socio-emotional, health.
Places like the “Reading Garden,” for example, connect an interactive education space to the interior programming of the library. Animating and structuring the interior of the campus in this way, through both new and existing buildings, creates a cohesive campus identity that is in support of student needs and sensitive to the surrounding neighborhood fabric.
