LEARNING BY DESIGN magazine

Site Plan
Student Innovation Center - First Floor
Student Innovation Center - Second Floor
Student Innovation Center - Third Floor
Middle School Building - First and Second Floors
Following the first phase that opened 2013, Phase Two completes the front edge of the school with the addition of two new buildings.
The two building additions create a strong community edge, putting learning on display to passersby and creating a secure campus perimeter with minimal fencing.
The quad connects the academic buildings and provides opportunities for students to gather and socialize.
The Design Pathway gives students an opportunity to explore the arts, from digital graphics and 2D art to photography and videography.
The Engineering Pathway provides students hands-on opportunities to explore and experiment.
The College|Career|Alumni Center is a vital space on campus to ensure that kids have the resources they need to be successful in school and beyond.
Each building façade responds to the solar orientation with different shading strategies to protect the glass and minimize heat gain.
With innovative programs and pathways, facilities that support hands-on learning and socialization, and dedicated staff, Samueli Academy students are thriving.
©2022 Costea Photography, Inc.
©2022 Costea Photography, Inc.
©2022 Costea Photography, Inc.

PROJECT NARRARTIVE

The Samueli Academy provides underserved youth and foster teens a transformational learning environment offering stability, support, and a place in which to belong, thrive and grow. Building on the success of the campus master plan’s first phase, Phase Two embraces lessons learned from living on the site every day. As the school culture developed and evolved since opening the campus in 2013, stakeholders recognized the need for additional innovative learning environments with purpose-built labs that would support and flex with their hands-on STEM curriculum in addition to social spaces for students to feel a sense of belonging.

As a result, the three-story Student Innovation Center building sits at the heart of the campus and houses the school administration, a College|Career|Alumni Center, with resource personnel to support students throughout their academic career and beyond, and a Student Union with food service on the ground floor. The second floor is devoted to the Design Pathway while the third floor is dedicated to the Engineering Pathway. Due to the success of the existing high school, a two-story Middle School building was added to the program recognizing that if at-risk students could be reached at an earlier age, they could realize their potential sooner.

Samueli Academy

Description

Owner
Orangewood Foundation
Santa Ana, CA

Architecture Firm
LPA Design Studios
Irvine,California
lpadesignstudios.com

Samueli Academy

Category

Description