Though not historic, both the planning and the architecture of the original campus were examples of neo-traditional, clean design. The school bounds El Monte’s civic and judicial center.
With expansion from an elementary school to include a middle school, there came the need to provide middle school classrooms and multi-purpose fitness and recreational programs without significantly disturbing either the patterns of use or the architecture of the new campus.
Though the mass of both buildings was significant, and 2-story in height, the strategy was to locate them along the outer edges of the campus and preserve the open space core. By shaping both buildings in a linear fashion, the design turned scale to an advantage, and developed new enclosing ’walls’ for the campus. The vertical detail echoes existing architecture and intensifies its rhythms to a more civic dignity. Sustainability was addressed by outdoor circulation, extensive sun-shading, recycled materials, and the use of insulated translucent sky-lighting.
