Originally constructed in the 1960s, Eastwood High School grew over the decades and eventually spilled over its landlocked suburban site. The district’s goals for the future of the high school is to re-envision its campus as a fully comprehensive, 21st century school with physically and visually connected, safe, and secure learning environments.
With these objectives in mind, we engaged the community, teachers, and students to craft a vision for the future. The new design replaces over half of the existing campus buildings and organizes the learning environments around a centrally secure outdoor courtyard. The courtyard’s landscape design tailors inspiring outdoor environments for class-sized groups, individual study, and robotics/STEM experimentation. Iconic architecture establishes a clear, centralized public and student entrance to solve a former problem of secure and consolidated entry points.
Along with entrance clarity, a new fine arts and science building will proudly present Eastwood High School to the community as a unified campus. Classrooms are organized in a multistory building to reduce travel distances and create learning adjacencies in a neighborhood concept where clusters of classrooms surround a flexible, blended learning space fostering collaboration and variable learning opportunities. In addition to the neighborhoods, open-blended learning spaces are organized throughout the school and provide students informal freedom for learning outside of the classroom. The centerpiece of the new academic building is a three-story atrium that provides natural light and visual connectivity across the school. The atrium’s grand learning stair allows for large group gatherings, as well as student collaboration.
