Theodore Alexander Jr. Science Center School

Project Name: Theodore Alexander Jr. Science Center School Year: 2004 Owner: LAUSD + SCS Location: Los Angeles, CA, USA Building Type: Educational Type: Semi-Extensive, Test/Research System: Single Source Provider Size: 10000 sq.ft. Slope: 1.5% Access: Inaccessible, Open to Public Submitted by: Kristina Loock Designers/Manufacturers of Record: Principal: Thom Mayne, Morphosis Architect: Kristina Loock, Morphosis Principal: Katherine Spitz, Katherine Spitz Architect: Mario Cipresso, Morphosis

The Science Center School is a unique joint venture between two Los Angeles institutions: the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and the California Science Center. The Science Center provides facilities for teacher education and student extracurricular science education; the School will be a public K through 5 with an emphasis on science education. Together they comprise a hybrid campus of primary education and scholastic research that complements the greater USC ? Exposition Park Museum and Education campus, and establish a community foothold in the heart of South Central LA.

Comprising 40,000 square feet of elementary school program, the North Building burrows and spreads in stealthy maneuvers, as if to safeguard against the pervasive forces of instability. This ?non-building? nests into a depression in the land, its ground level coplanar with the basement of the Armory, and the program essentially tucked and embedded into the park buffering the campus edge along Exposition Boulevard. A serial, iterative strategy was devised for the organization of these classrooms, clustering sets of four around a lab and a teachers? prep room. This simple organizational strategy ensures all students an ease of access and proximity to laboratory facilities and inter-classroom exchange. The classrooms spill out onto small courtyards carved into this landscape, and conjoin with the Armory through a series of bridges. The Hydrotech/ Zinco "Garden Roof" planted roof on the north building reduces heat load thereby reducing demand on the mechanical systems. The siting of the building below the established grade and with the protection of a large planted berm on Exposition Blvd. protects the lower level of the structure from intense sun exposure.

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