Sprawled over a hillside site, the Orion Alternative Elementary School’s main entrance and administration was tucked into the center of campus. The school lacked a secure perimeter and had no visible front door. The kindergarten as well as the first and second grade classrooms were located in older wings and portables along the hillside.
CAW reimagined the west portion of the campus by replacing two classroom wings and aging portables with a single, two-story building equipped with both administration, kindergarten, and first / second grade classrooms. The new design not only solves the programmatic challenge to create new classroom and administrative space, but also solves many of the site challenges inherent with the project.
This new building placed a modest administration office along the street with a new dedicated vehicle drop-off zone. Students now can access campus through a single entrance. Kindergarten classrooms were placed on the lower level which open into a dedicated kindergarten plan-area and the upper level first and second grade classrooms align with the adjacent classroom wing. The building design places the elevator to both link the two floors but also access the lower levels of the campus, creating a universally accessible site for all students with this vibrant new building.
