Founded in 1959, Pinewood School is an independent, co-educational day school serving grades K-12 across two separate campuses. The school’s Middle Campus in Los Altos was outdated and cramped, and traffic circulation on the school’s main street, Fremont Avenue, was challenging for both parents and the community. Although Pinewood School owned an adjoining parcel of land, the original Use Permit restricted the school from using the site as anything but residential. Despite having no desire to increase enrollment, the school wished to take advantage of the adjoining lot in order to reorganize the campus in a more centralized manner and replace their very outdated facilities. Our team ushered through the zoning change to allow the campus to grow onto the neighboring parcel. Additionally, CAW assisted the school with community outreach in order to find a balance between the school’s goals and the community’s needs.
CAW developed a campus design that reflects the residential character of both the original school house and the neighborhood. The site plan included more play areas, improved pick up and drop off queuing, and gave the classrooms and teacher prep areas more breathing room. The campus now includes a new gymnasium building, two new classroom wings, a renovated multi-purpose / theater building and a new athletic play field for the students. The original house was renovated to house administration functions, and new science and art classrooms were constructed. The entire campus landscaping was updated, and the phasing of the construction allowed the campus to be fully functional throughout the various stages of work. The school now has a cohesive campus that provides larger and more productive spaces for its students, all within a setting that meshes beautifully with the neighborhood aesthetic.
