Honorable Mention: American Architecture Awards 2023
Santa Monica High School Discovery Building | Santa Monica - California | 2021

Architects: Moore Ruble Yudell Architects and Planners
Associate Architects: HED
General Contractor: McCarthy Building Companies, Inc.
Client: Santa Monica -Malibu Unified School District
Photographers: Innesa Binenbaum

Education in the K-12 world is rapidly evolving in significant social, cultural, and pedagogical directions. Samohi is in transition in terms of pedagogy from classroom-only accommodation to a diverse spectrum of learning suites and labs complemented by multi-functional ‘commons’ areas. This evolving condition revealed the Discovery Building - a 260,000-SF addition to the 3,000-student campus - as ideal for the Open Building approach.

To fully understand the progressive program goals of the School and the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, the team’s design process was based on a series of workshops with teaching and administrative staff. These meetings reinforced a hybrid approach to the use of open commons versus discrete spaces. In contrast to single and double-loaded corridor layouts common in California, the five-level Discovery Building has deep floor plates that allow the clustering of spaces and activities in a greater variety of sizes and formats, supporting different modes of learning.

Large classrooms, up to 1100 SF, are themselves able to accommodate multiple activities simultaneously. The building wraps around an open entry court with cascading stairs and bleachers for informal gathering. The building is designed as a ‘loft’ building with a flexible, open column grid, raised floor for air supply, power and data and non-load bearing walls which can be reconfigured over time. Sustainable features include ‘living’ green walls, displacement ventilation, roof top photovoltaic and solar thermal arrays. The classrooms are filled with natural light and many have operable glass walls to connect to commons areas.