The Hamlin School | 2020-2022

Location: San Francisco, California, USA
Architect: Mark Cavagnero Associates
Design Team: Mark Cavagnero, Felicia Dunham, Anna de Anguera, Christopher Agosta
and Tammy LePham
Project Manager: Pacific Union Development Company, Inc.
Client: The Hamlin School

The Hamlin School has focused on their mission of educating girls to “meet the challenges of their time” for over 127 years. The School is located on a steeply sloped site in a residential neighborhood of San Francisco with restrictive height limits. The campus consists of 3 buildings stepping 65’ down a hillside while negotiating a 40’ retaining wall, all conditions which created profound site constraints and design challenges.

With separate elevators and stairs in each building, the connections between the disconnected buildings were unclear. The retaining wall in the center of the campus created a physical barrier between the middle school and the lower school, fundamentally dividing the site into upper and lower sections. The three buildings were constructed in three different eras and were not designed to support the School’s contemporary pedagogical ambitions. And the undersized gymnasium was shared with the performing arts department, compromising both the athletics and the performing arts programs.

The renovation and expansion project unified the campus by clarifying the circulation and simultaneously created new, flexible program space. Work was concentrated in the interior of the site to minimize impact to the stunning Bay views from the campus and neighboring residences. The project expanded the lower school McKinne building by retaining its front half while excavating behind it southward up to the retaining wall, capturing new excavated space as usable area.

The new design stacked a large double-height gymnasium above a multipurpose arts space deep in the center of the site, conforming to the zoning limits and minimizing visual impact to neighbors. The roof of the expansion forms a new terrace immediately outside the existing science classrooms in the Middle Building, creating new opportunities for natural science education and experimentation. This strategy also consolidated the newly enlarged classrooms on the north side of the McKinne building where they take best advantage of the large windows, soft light, and views. The existing classrooms were small and did not support the school’s project-based pedagogy. Working closely with teachers, the classrooms were paired by grade level, with the youngest children at Level 1 and ascending the building with age. Each pair of L-shaped classrooms is connected by an operable partition and a shared project room.

This layout creates differentiated learning spaces to support different learning modes: individual, small group, whole class, and whole grade level. The renovation also created a new, open and accessible entrance at grade level, halfway between the first floor and the newly excavated lower level. Where the former entry to the 1960’s-era building was awkward, cramped and hidden from the street, the new entry welcomes students, parents, and visitors and connects to interior lobbies at levels 1 and 0, leading directly to the multi-purpose performance space and the climbing wall. These lobbies are open and flexible spaces used for class activities, after-school programs and as pre-function lobbies for the new performance space.

Sustainable strategies include: 1. Minimizing demolition and maximizing re-use of existing structures to reduce waste and save material resources 2. Insulation at all exterior building envelopes above and below grade to reduce energy use 3. Orient classrooms toward north-facing exposure for best daylight to reduce energy use 4. Computer-controlled building management system including occupancy sensors and daylight sensors to automatically reduce lighting and HVAC system energy use where not needed 5. Highly efficient LED lighting fixtures and low-flow plumbing fixtures throughout the building 6. Insulated glazing with low-e coating to reduce solar gain and energy loss at all new fenestration 7. Drought-tolerant landscape plantings at roof terrace to reduce water use 8. Operable windows for use-controlled natural ventilation 9. Limit mechanical cooling to large assembly spaces to reduce energy use.