Left: Interior courtyard
Top
Right: Exterior view of school entry
Bottom
Right: View from courtyard to street |
 |
St.
James’ School
Completion: Fall
2001
Los Angeles, California
St. James’ School is church-based located in the ethnically
diverse, mid-Wilshire district of Los Angeles. Responding to an expanding
student population, the K-6 school retained Levin & Associates
to renovate the existing building, and to design a new complex to
accommodate classrooms, library, science and computer facitities,
a multi-purpose space, and an exterior play area.
The
plan and design are simple, economic solutions that double the
size of the existing campus, providing the school with improved
academic and support-programming space, and serving as a new
community resource. The adajacent St. James’ Gothic church
inspires the schools exterior building design. A rhythm has been
created to modulate the street facade by reinterpreting the church
buttresses as plaster pilasters, which are organized in a pattern
with the windows.
This new two-story building is organized around a small courtyard,
with exterior stairs and an elevator tower. The multi-purpose room
opens out to the play area through barn doors. On the second floor,
an additional play yard augments the oudoor facilities. |
