Berliner Architects recently completed construction on a new middle and high school for Alliance Public Schools on First Street in East Los Angeles. The design of the project was driven by the desire to reinforce, invigorate, and revitalize the surrounding community. The two schools making up the First Street Campus are: Morgan McKinzie HS and College Ready Middle Academy 8.
For years the site had been home to the First Street Store, a department store that played an important role on this street, which is lined with two story buildings with storefront retail on the first floor and apartments above. The store is unique in that its façade contained 17 tile murals (5’x11’) depicting the Chicano history of this largely Hispanic community. The department store, however, had been vacant for several years, these murals were incorporated into the new First Street Campus and serve as a vital core for the surrounding community, many of which attend the new Middle & High School.
Berliner Architects recently completed the Founders Hall Project on the Loyola Law School Campus. As the student services hub of the campus, Loyola Law School's Founders Hall is the first point of introduction for prospective students and houses the Office of Admissions and the Social Justice Law Clinic. Largely untouched since the 1950s, The Admissions Office on the first floor was overdue for a refresh and is now a warm and inviting environment for students, faculty and staff. The new stairway improves circulation throughout the first and second floors and draws visitors upstairs to the new Social Justice Law Clinic.
