School Gets Pool

Revised Design Saves $4 Million, Yields Aquatic Center

Arnold O. Beckman High School is the first high school to be built by the Tustin Unified School District in 40 years. The $94 million facility includes biology and chemistry labs, music and television studios and plenty of computers. An Olympic-sized pool will be completed in the spring.

By Kathy Lee Scott

PHOTO BY KATHY LEE SCOTT.

By modifying an existing design, Tustin Unified School District saved about $4 million on the construction of its newest high school-it's first one in 40 years. The savings were substantial enough to pay for an Olympic-sized pool and other accompanying structures.

Brock Wagner, deputy superintendent of business services, said that the pool had not been planned until the district saw it could afford it about halfway through construction of Arnold O. Beckman High School.

The pool will be completed in the spring, said Glynna Hoekstra of San Diego-based Barnhart Inc., the construction management firm for the $94 million project.

The school's design, by Trittipo & Associates Architects of San Marcos, had been used for one school in Temecula and two in Palm Springs. "This is the fourth version of the layout," said Bob Nelson, a Trittipo senior associate.

The 180,000-sq.-ft. high school is named for the late inventor and founder of Fullerton-based Beckman Instruments. Mello-Roos funds and 2002 state bonds paid for the project.

The district also includes Foothill, Hillview and Tustin high schools.

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Beckman's administration and library are in a centralized single-story building with three single-story structures and a two-story gymnasium radiating from the center building. A stand-alone, 50-ft. clock tower, reminiscent of old church towers, rises in the student community area, Nelson said.

"The school has been master-planned for up to 2,400 students by adding parts to its exterior," Nelson said. It opened in August to about 950 freshmen and sophomores, he added.

Over the past decade, the three-city district's student population has doubled to 19,400, Wagner said. Most of that growth came from the 14,000 homes built in the Tustin Ranch and Irvine area.

A 50-ft. clock tower, reminiscent of old church towers, rises in the student community area of Arnold O. Beckman High School in Tustin (photo by Kathy Lee Scott).

Nelson said he had to coordinate with the Irvine Co. so the school would match the surrounding community. The Irvine Co, which originally owned all of the land in the city of Irvine, retains all review rights on all designs proposed by developers within city limits.

Landscaping includes several palm trees, although the "Irvine Co. didn't want us to use them since it incorporates them in the intersections throughout the (master-planned) city," Nelson added.

Most of the 40-acre site, purchased in 2000 from the Irvine Co. for $49 million, had been agricultural land, Hoekstra said. "Since it's on the edge of a seismic zone, we had to stabilize the soil with a fabric mat," she added. "We did a substantial amount of grading. We finished the rest of the campus absolutely on time within 20 months."

The district negotiated a joint-use agreement with Irvine for a 10-acre park adjacent to the school's full-sized football and track field. Eight tennis courts and a softball/baseball diamond will be available for use by students and the public.

Computers abound in the classrooms, with at least one in each under teacher control. All the rooms connect to the school's main servers so instructors can access any of the tens of thousands of programs, educational videos and other electronic media stored in the hard drives and show them on a flat-screen monitor, said Adele Heuer, the school's principal.

"We can video-stream a class from college or even those happening in real time, like the broadcasts from astronauts," she added.

Teachers can also share lessons with each other via classroom cameras across the same network.

The girls volleyball team practices on the new gymnasium at the $94 million Arnold O. Beckman High School in Tustin (photo by Kathy Lee Scott).

Although the curriculum emphasizes science and technology- complete with full biology and chemistry labs, it includes art and literature classes.

Fully equipped music and television studios adjoin a 550-seat, 9,925-sq.-ft. auditorium for school and district productions. An orchestra pit was constructed in front of the stage, which has a full-fly loft, the space where scenery can be lifted out of sight.

"It's nicer than what's found in typical high schools," Wagner said.