A Real Place

New Central LA high school designed to make teenagers want to attend

By Joe Florkowski

Although it is in an urban area of Los Angeles surrounded by traffic and strip malls, the location of Los Angeles Central Area High School No. 2 was not a challenge for the designers of the project.

Deciding how to make it appealing was the main problem, said Robert Mangurian, principal with Studio Works, the L.A.-based firm that served as the architect of record for the project.

He said he had to find a way to design a high school that teenagers want to attend.

"You want to make it a real place, somewhere they want to go every day," Mangurian said. "They need a place to stimulate them."

With the high school about 70 percent complete Mangurian is pleased so far with the way it has turned out. The school has a number of features that he said will encourage students to attend, including outdoor corridors rather than enclosed hallways. A large courtyard component also enhances that out door feeling.

The school is located at the southeast corner of Vermont Avenue and Washington Boulevard, just north of the 10 Freeway. At the Los Angeles Unified School District's request, the school's buildings front those streets - which is a positive for the project, Mangurian added.

The school's main outdoor space - the area for playing fields -- is shielded from traffic on Vermont and Washington, which provides a respite from the outside world for the students, Mangurian said.

"When they go outside, they are in an oasis," Mangurian said. "The last thing I wanted to do was to make it look like an airport or an office building."

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Expected to be completed by February, the 250,000-sq.-ft. high school is being built on 14 acres.

The three-story school will contain two gyms, an auditorium and an underground parking structure. More than 2,000 students are expected to fill nearly 100 classrooms. Costing more than $100 million to build, the high school is expected to open for classes in September 2007.

The site is relatively compact for a high school, compared with larger high schools with more acreage, said Vitas Rugienius, project manager for Hensel Phelps, the Greeley-Colo.-based general contractor, working out of its Irvine office.
"It makes you go up, instead of out," Rugienius added.

Hensel Phelps started construction on the high school in January 2005 and has experienced few delays, he said.

The rain that pelted Southern California in early 2005 slowed construction, but not significantly, Rugienius said.

"This [school] is going to finish on time and under budget," he said.

One of the aspects of the high school that is encouraging to Mangurian, the architect, is the opportunity for the surrounding neighborhood to use the high school. The school's auditorium is designed for easy access for area residents. And in downtown Los Angeles, where there is little room for park space, the school's playing fields are designed for use as a neighborhood park.

"It's primed to be set up as a venue for the larger neighborhood," Mangurian said. "I think this is going to be a great school."

The Project Team
Owner: Los Angeles Unified School District
General Contractor: Hensel Phelps
Architect: Studio Works