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Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic School
By : ROBERT KERR architecture design
GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN – 16th edition
Discipline : Architecture
Categories : Public Building / School & Preschool Education Building : Gold Certification
Our Lady of Guadalupe is a school committed to being stewards of the environment, making the community better and changing the campus to be provide more security and educational opportunity. This project accomplishes that with three different approaches including Ecology, Community and Campus Improvement.
The first category, Ecological Response, preserves the school’s ability to function as a passive campus. The existing building’s characteristics remain while adding a new building that is designed around passive elements.
The building is purposely narrow with exterior walls on opposite sides to allow natural ventilation. Exterior circulation and intermediate openings channel ocean breezes while allowing natural light to illuminate walkways.
Large overhangs and deep openings minimize early morning solar glare to function alongside oversized windows. Long windows allow needed faculty supervision, but placing them on the eastern side and pushing them from the wall minimizes deep solar gain.
The elevated building allows outdoor covered areas underneath to serve as dining, storage and shaded circulation without sacrificing access. Kids are sheltered on hot or rainy days, but always have daily access to the temperate beach climate.
A solar array is installed on the building that generates all the power for the new building, and maintains the property’s mandate to use only green energy. Every building on campus is solar powered and independent of local energy companies.
Secondly, this building serves more than the faculty and students who attend, and is a new means to connect the community. Being part of a catholic parish means it must also serve the church’s community which is older with its own needs as well as neighbors who may not be a parish member.
The primary issue was accessibility. The church’s visitors are typically older and the former site had very little ADA accommodations due to the sloping site. The new design provides additional disabled parking, a new elevator and uninterrupted access from sidewalks.
The building contains several interior and exterior multi-purpose spaces that can be used for a variety of functions. The Upper Patio is the largest, is immediately adjacent to the Music Room via a 20’ wide opening and is in constant use. Other spaces under the building and a 2nd floor opening in the middle of the building provides additional gathering that are easily accessible.
Finally, the building allows a needed change to provide a new campus center, enhanced security and expanded engagement with other parishioners. The building illustrates a new, open and forward-thinking approach aimed at parents and future students.
Security is enhanced by moving the Lobby to a central location with visual access to points-of-entry from two different streets while also creating a separate dedicated walkway to keep visitors from students.
All the missing spaces are included in the new building with most rooms having windows on two sides. In addition to passive attributes this allows students to see faculty from the play area as well as the walkway between old and new buildings.
Moving from a disparate set of rooms organized with minimal social overlap into a campus with almost total overlap is the result of the new building’s size, design and organization. It forces everyone to walk past each other, interact with one another, be seen and be on display. Ultimately, the campus has evolved into a stronger community.
Collaboration
