The unique Westlake High School campus, designed around deep arroyos and adjacent hills, has informed the planning process. The result is teaching labs that embrace flexibility, maximize views and exposure, and offer a natural living lab and gathering space for students and faculty.

Optimized flexibility for an evolving STEM curriculum while connecting students to the natural environment are rooted in the learning environment. Fixed infrastructure wraps around the perimeter leaving the center as flexible workspace. Students and faculty group together collectively or independently in small groups, inside or outside in outdoor classroom settings.

Located on an elevated peninsula, attention is focused on student arrival, orientation to surrounding views, enhancing campus integration and access, and responding to shading and local wind patterns.
The design invites students and faculty to gather and "hang out”, drawing them into the curriculum and into the sciences.

The community of Westlake Village is integral to the success of this project. Their advocacy for their students and for future-focused design informs the project, providing opportunities to research design options with local partner Amgen, exploring how best to optimize this unique opportunity.

Designed to LEED Silver criteria, sustainability is a central design element, rich with high-performance strategies.