LEARNING BY DESIGN magazine

The school wraps around a central, tiered courtyard and packs in 17 distinct outdoor learning/collaboration and gathering zones.
The first floor features the freshman/sophomore “institute”. Learning spaces connect directly to outdoor spaces.
The second floor features the junior/senior “institute”. Flexible learning studios pair with a variety of collaboration spaces and science labs.
The third floor is elevated to provide views to the bay from the Student Union and the Dream Lab.
The three-story TIDE Academy is designed around a tiered courtyard that opens out toward the community.
The courtyard provides a central gather space for the school and offers a variety of space for learning and socialization.
A first floor Physics Lab connects directly to the courtyard to allow learning to spill out.
The Dream Lab is located at the third floor and provides sweeping view out to the community and the bay beyond.
An ecosystem of collaborative spaces includes think tanks, huddles, colabs and a dojo!
The school is design to place learning on display. A performative scrim lowers to allow views in and lifts at the corners to allow access.
The perforated aluminum scrim wraps the west façade and lifts to announce a protected main entry.
First and Second Floor leaning studios spill out to collaboration spaces. At the first floor they connect to outdoor learning areas.
Learning studios feature mobile technology, operable partitions and flexible furniture to support multi-modal learning.
A third-floor multipurpose space serves as a flexible performance, game room and overflow from the Student Union.
The first floor Maker Space is a flexible high-bay space that can open out to the courtyard space.
Connectivity through the terraced courtyard provides a variety of ample gathering space for students.
Jason O'Rear Photography
Jason O'Rear Photography
Jason O'Rear Photography

PROJECT NARRARTIVE

From its location in Silicon Valley, the new STEAM-focused TIDE Academy radiates an attitude of enterprise and invention. The school, filled with flexible and diverse learning spaces inspired by the innovative tech companies surrounding it, serves 400 students as they engage in interdisciplinary and inquiry-based study. By leveraging existing community assets, the school nimbly extends its learning systems beyond its classroom walls.

Designed for the “known and unknown”, TIDE Academy occupies a small, two-acre site where large parcels of land are increasingly scarce. The small site spurred an ethos of doing more with less. The result is a condensed, vertical, three-story school that takes advantage of California’s mild climate to build less and create a better experience for students and faculty.

The academy is organized around a central courtyard that features several sustainable and pedagogical strategies. This signature feature offers space for assemblies, events, recreation, and social activities, and other learning spaces spill into it. Nearby, a perforated and performative scrim encapsulates the front of the school, mitigating sunlight and providing views in and out of the school. Its glazed northeast façade helps orient the public side of the building and highlights the daily motion of the school’s educational processes.

TIDE Academy

Description

Owner
Sequoia Union High School District
Menlo Park, CA

Architecture Firm
LPA Design Studios
Irvine,California
lpadesignstudios.com

Photography By:
Jason O'Rear Photography

TIDE Academy

Category

Description