Los Angeles County High School of the Arts

Client: Los Angeles County

Scope: Concept Design

Size: N/A

Completion: In Progress

Project Manager: Richard Berliner, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, ALEP

For one day in early February the teachers, artists, and administration of LACHSA and BA came together in a charrette, beginning the collaborative process of imagining the physical embodiment of the schools ambitious future work: an integrated Arts Academy designed to inspire and serve the creative and social needs of its community.

Berliner studied the potential site and surrounding area of Downtown Los Angeles where the school would be built. Using a scale model and blocks representing 7000 SF each, BA explored how the program could effect the massing and verticality of the future LACHSA facility.

Each color block represented a different use - dark blue for classroom space, pink for shared space, grey for partnerships, green for housing, and light blue for supplementary spaces such as loading loading docks and storage. BA and LACHSA staff arranged the blocks on a scale model to explore what shapes the school could potential take.